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| Forum board chairperson Jestina Mukoko |
Upenyu Chaota
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
Forum has launched an online petition to rally citizens to stand up and reject
the 27 proposed constitutional amendments.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No.2) Bill gazetted on January 17, 2020 is made up of 27 sections
that propose to amend not less than 30 sections of the national constitution.
The proposed amendments follow
the first amendment to the 2013 Constitution which came into effect on
September 07, 2017, which gave the President powers to unilaterally appoint the
Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court.
In a petition to Parliament,
which is being backed by thousands of signatures online, The Forum says that
the government should not amend the constitution but rather focus of aligning
some of the draconian laws to the constitution.
“The proposed amendments are of a
fundamental and far-reaching nature interfering with the choice of the citizens
who participated in a referendum which birthed the Constitution of 2013 and
discarded the Lancaster House Constitution which came into operation on 18
April 1980.
“The Constitution as the supreme
law of the land must not be unnecessarily amended. As an enduring piece of law,
which reflects the basic values of the society of Zimbabwe as a whole, and
enacted at great public expense, it is self-evident that the Constitution
should be amended only when it is absolutely necessary to do so.
“Absent absolute necessity, the
Constitution should not be changed with munificent abandon. Great care and
consideration should be taken before any decision to amend it is taken.
Consequently, the petitioners pray that you exercise your powers and turn down
any proposals by the Government to amend the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” reads
the petition.
Amongst other changes, the
omnibus Bill proposes sweeping changes to allow the President to unilaterally
appoint and remove the Vice President(s) outside a popular mandate;
It also gives the President more
powers in the appointment and extension of tenure of judges of superior courts
in a way that takes away transparency.
The Bill also proposes the
extension of the women’s quarter system and creating additional 10 seats for
the youths instead of the government fully implementing the equality clause in
section 56 of the Constitution.
The Bill also cuts on
parliamentary oversight over agreements entered into by the executive with
foreign organizations and companies.
“The running theme in the
proposed amendments is cutting back on checks and balances and separation of
powers.
“Furthermore, some of the
proposed amendments are interfering with provisions that have not been tested
yet. The Forum calls for the implementation of the Constitution and not tinker
with it,” reads the petition.
Zanu PF national secretary for
legal affairs Paul Mangwana once remarked that they have sections in the
constitution which they do not agree with and now that they have a two thirds
parliamentary majority, they would use that to amend the constitution to
consolidate their power.
