Prominent human rights defender Jestina Mukoko has taken the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and lnvestment Promotion, Mthuli Ncube, to court for allocating national funds to the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) whose term of office expired in August 2023.
According to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Mukoko alleges that in terms of section 251 of the Constitution, the NPRC was supposed to exist for only 10 years from 22 August 2013, the date it was operationalized. This means the NPRC ceased to exist on 23 August 2023.
However, despite this position, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube allocated funds to the NPRC in his 2024 annual budget. Mukoko stated:
There is no law that allows any public expenditure in favour of the NPRC and this event is contrary thus to section 17 of the Public Finance and Management Act. I submit that it is neither prudent nor economical for the Respondents to allow expenditure for an entity that is not recognized by law or authorized to receive such expenditure. Section 308 of the Constitution provides that “it is the duty of every person who has custody or control of public funds to safeguard the funds and ensure that they are spent only on legally authorised purposes and in legally authorized amounts.”
Mukoko has also cited the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the Attorney-General as respondents. They are yet to respond to Mukoko, who Noble Chinhanu of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum represents.
The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs announced that it was working on transferring the functions of the NPRC to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
