THE three parties in the coalition government agreed to amend the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment 20 Bill (draft constitution) and this will happen today, Constitutional Affairs minister Eric Matinenga said yesterday.
Report by Veneranda Langa
Most Zimbabweans had expected the Bill to sail through the House of Assembly yesterday, while others anticipated little wars between Zanu PF and the MDC parties during the Second Reading Stage yesterday.
This, however, did not happen as all parties spoke glowingly of the draft and agreed to amendments.
The Bill goes through the Committee Stage which will effect the amendments today.
According to notices of the proposed amendments that were put in MPs’ pigeonholes, the changes would be merely grammatical errors or errors of omission.
“I will be moving amendments on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill during the Committee Stage tomorrow (today),” Matinenga said.
“The amendments arose out of full agreement of all parties involved and this particular document was a result of a meeting we had on Monday where everybody agreed.”
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Matinenga said sections of the draft that appeared to have caused friction between the parties, like abortion and same-sex marriage, had apparently been misinterpreted.
The correct position, he said, was that the two matters had been outlawed in the new charter.
“Religious groups have raised concern that the new constitution might provide for abortion, but there is no truth in that. There is also a misconception that the constitution provides for same-sex marriages. It (the draft constitution) is very specific and says people of the same sex are prohibited from marriage,” he said.
The minister said some of the best features of the new charter were the comprehensive Bill of Rights which included political, civil, socio-economic, cultural and environmental rights, as well as issues of transparency that address term limits for the President, permanent secretaries and commanders of security forces.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said the draft constitution, if passed into law, would establish a new social contract for Zimbabwe which had been afflicted by violence, abuse and fear of power.
“This constitution is a fundamental departure from the past of violence, monopolisation of power, privatisation of power and that what matters is the colour of your political card and the region you come from,” Biti said.
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said the constitution was good in that it recognised that land belonged to the people of Zimbabwe.
MDC secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said the draft constitution was good as never in the history of Zimbabwe did a constitution deal with the issue of term limits.
“We are going to have a situation where anybody who gets into power makes sure they go and whereby no one thinks they are going to be in power in perpetuity,” she said.
