SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda yesterday said lack of financial resources and competent technical and legal staff had delayed realignment of the country’s laws with the new Constitution. By Phyllis Mbanje
Addressing stakeholders attending a conference on the Constitution in the capital, Mudenda said the delays were likely to cause a serious constitutional crisis.
“The heavy financial burden associated with the realignment process has encumbered progress and played havoc with the original plan,” Mudenda said.
He said the current challenges plaguing the fiscus had impacted negatively on the pace of implementation of some of the provisions of the new Constitution.
“A Constitution cannot be viewed as an abstract legal document divorced from the political economy of a given State.
“An underperforming economy is a breeding ground for misdirected political adventurism and social convulsions which may be a threat to any established constitutional order,” Mudenda said.
Over 300 pieces of legislation need to be lined up with the new Constitution which came into effect in 2013. The Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ministry recently said it had established a task force to collate and consider pieces of legislation from various ministries for realignment.
Speaking at the same function, German ambassador Ulrich Klockner said adaptation of the new Constitution was imperative for the rule of law to be fully functional.
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“The majority of Zimbabweans were instrumental in the crafting of the new Constitution and so it is very important to normalise it,” he said.
Oliver Ruppel , director of Development and Rule of Law Programme in the faculty of law at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, said there was need to facilitate legal knowledge and investigate the new Constitution.
“A sound Constitution creates vast foreign investment opportunities,” he noted.
“Zimbabwean students at Stellenbosch came up with the idea of this conference saying there was need to hold dialogue into the new Constitution to create better understanding,” he said.
