Proclamation 2 of 2024
The President has ordered the Manicaland Provincial Assembly of Chiefs to meet at the Chiefs' Hall, Mutare on 24 July 2024 at 10am to elect a replacement for the late Senator Chief Makumbe in both the Senate and the National Council of Chiefs.
Senator Chief Makumbe (Shepherd Gundu Chengeta), who had been elected by the Manicaland Provincial Assembly of Chiefs to sit in both the Senate and the National Council of Chiefs, has died. That leaves two vacancies, and the Constitution requires an election within ninety days.
The President has accordingly fixed 24 July 2024 at 10 o'clock in the morning, at the Chiefs' Hall in Mutare, for two elections. The Provincial Assembly of Chiefs for Manicaland meets to elect one of its members to fill the vacancy in the National Council of Chiefs. The same body, sitting as an electoral college, meets at the same time and place to elect a member to fill the Senate vacancy.
The legal machinery is a combination: section 159 of the Constitution requires the by-election, section 37(5) of the Traditional Leaders Act governs the Council of Chiefs seat, and Part X of the Electoral Act is applied with necessary changes to the Senate seat.
Only chiefs of Manicaland Province vote. This is not a public by-election, and the proclamation sets no nomination procedure or fees of its own.
What changed
- The Manicaland Provincial Assembly of Chiefs is convened for 24 July 2024 at 10am at the Chiefs' Hall, Mutare, to fill the National Council of Chiefs vacancy
- The same assembly, as an electoral college, meets then to fill the Senate vacancy left by the late Senator Chief Makumbe
- Part X of the Electoral Act is applied with necessary changes to the filling of the Senate vacancy
Who this affects
- chiefs in the Manicaland Provincial Assembly of Chiefs
- the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
- the Senate and the National Council of Chiefs
- residents of Chief Makumbe's area in Manicaland
Plain-language summary — not legal advice. Always read the full instrument.