Zimbabwe will this year host two high profile constitutional conferences, one at the end of this month and the other in October, Chief Justice Luke Malaba has said.
He said this when he officially opened the 2023 legal year, whose theme is “The role of the judiciary in entrenching constitutionalism”.
Malaba said Zimbabwe is also set to assume the chairmanship of one of the conferences which is currently under the stewardship of Morocco.
He said the first conference will be the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Africa Electoral Justice Network (AEJN) to be held at the end of this month while the second is the 7th Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa (CCJA) to take place in October.
The AEJN is a regional forum that brings together judges and individuals who adjudicate electoral disputes in courts and tribunals as well judicial election management bodies from across the African continent.
“The discussions, engagements, brainstorming and dialogue at this event will be centred on the promotion, nurturing, strengthening and consolidation of democracy through effective judicial practices in electoral matters,” said Malaba.
“One of the key objectives of the AEJN is to facilitate the engagement, participation, and exchange of judicial information relating to electoral dispute resolution, knowledge, experience, and resources on emerging challenges to the integrity of elections.”
He said AEJN will provide an opportunity to further entrench constitutionalism, as judicial practice in electoral matters is based on observance of the constitutional values of the rule of law and due process.
“The exchange of ideas and experiences in electoral adjudication will serve to strengthen electoral justice, good governance, participatory democracy, transparency, and accountability, all of which are the ideals of a democratic society,” he said.
The 7th Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa, which Zimbabwe will host from 30 October to 3 November under the theme “Human Dignity as a Foundational Value and Principle: A Source of Constitutional Interpretation, Fundamental Human Rights Protection and Enforcement” is the biggest gathering of Constitutional Courts in Africa.
“It is at that conference that Zimbabwe will assume the chairmanship of, which is currently under the stewardship of Morocco,” said Malaba.
He said hosting the two conferences comes as Zimbabwe celebrates a decade of the existence of its current Constitution which it adopted following a referendum in 2013.
Malaba called on stakeholders to support the JSC as it hosts the two high profile events to ensure they were successful.
New Ziana
