Jessie Majome

Service/Career

Her political experience includes being the youngest female commissioner in the National Constitutional Commission in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, she was the national spokesperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
Majome has also been a councillor for Ward 1 in Hwange, Matabeleland North Province and was the chairperson of the Hwange Local Board in 2003. She was a member of the MDC National Executive Committee (NEC) and was the deputy secretary for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
From 2006 to 2007 she was a consultant to UNIFEM in Sudan on gender justice in post-conflict reconstruction. She has experience in human rights law after having worked for various organisations such as ZimRights, Legal Resources Foundation and the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association. ^[1]

• 2000 was a Member of the Constitutional Commission,
• 2001-2004 Spokesperson of National Constitutional Assembly,
• 2003 elected MDC - T
• Member of National Executive
• MDC Deputy Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs,
• 2010 Secretary for Constitutional Parliamentary Affairs MDC - T,
• 2008-2013 MDC - T Secretary for Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs.
• Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs during the Government of National Unity (GNU).

In the 2013 Elections, (see A History of Zimbabwean Elections) Harare West returned to Parliament:

• Jessie Majome of MDC–T with 9 996 votes or 69.55 percent,
• Varaidzo Mupunga of Zanu PF with 3 530 votes or 24.56 percent,
• Salome Rice of MDC–N with 772 votes or 5.37 percent,
• 2 others with 74 votes or 0.51 percent.

Total 14 372 votes

Events

Suing Hopewell Chin'ono For Defamation

In December 2021, Majome sued prominent journalist, Hopewell Chin'ono for defamation. Jessie Majome demanded US$350 000 from Chin’ono. She said in her court papers:

The Plaintiff’s claim is for

a. Payment of US$150 000.00 or equivalent at the date of payment being damages for defamation.
b. Payment of USS75 000.00 or equivalent at the date of payment being damages for in iniuria.
c. Payment of US$75 000.00 or equivalent at the date of payment being damages for contumelia.
d. Payment of US$50 000.00 or equivalent as compensation in terms of section 85 (1) of the constitution for the infringement of her rights to dignity, freedom from cruel and degrading treatment and the right to serve in public office.
e. Interest at the prescribed rate calculated from the date of publication to the date of payment.
f. An order directing the Defendant to issue a detailed written apology and publish it prominently on his Twitter profile and in two different national newspapers with nationwide circulation for seven consecutive days and pin the short apology with a link to the detailed apology on his Twitter profile continuously for a period of 6 months.

g. Costs of suit on an attorney-client scale.

A defiant Chin’ono confirmed he had received the summons but he was not going to retract what he said. Hopewell Chin'ono said he had instructed his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa to inform Majome that they would meet in court. ^[2]

Further Reading

References