THE controversial Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 3 Bill (CAB 3) is edging ever closer to becoming law.
Having sailed through the National Assembly, it proceeded to the Senate, where it was passed with minor amendments.
The National Assembly voted for the Bill and it is expected to be transmitted to President Emmerson Mnangagwa for assent within the constitutionally prescribed period.
He has about 21 days to either assent to the Bill or return it to Parliament if he has some reservations.
However, the greatest casualty of this process is not merely the 2013 Constitution itself, but the people of Zimbabwe.
The 2013 Constitution was not crafted overnight.
It was the product of years of negotiations, public consultations and, ultimately, a national referendum.
It represented a social contract between the State and its citizens, painstakingly negotiated after years of political turmoil.
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Its provisions were intended to safeguard democratic governance, strengthen institutions and prevent the concentration of excessive power in the hands of individuals.
Yet, over the past six months, Parliament has increasingly become the venue where that constitutional settlement is being systematically dismantled.
The process arguably began when Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda recognised self-styled Citizens Coalition for Change secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu as the party’s parliamentary leader.
That decision, subsequently reinforced through judicial processes, fundamentally altered the balance of power within the opposition and Parliament itself.
What followed was unprecedented.
Tshabangu recalled legislators and councillors from the very party he claimed to represent, triggering costly by-elections that reshaped the political landscape.
Those developments laid the groundwork for the constitutional amendments now before Parliament.
When CAB 3 came before the National Assembly, legislators were required to physically divide themselves between those supporting the Bill and those opposing it.
The Senate followed the same procedure.
The outcome revealed just how overwhelming political pressure had become.
Only five of the 80 senators voted against the Bill.
Whether one agrees with the substance of CAB 3 or not, those five legislators exercised independent judgment at a time when dissent appeared increasingly difficult.
They chose to stand by their convictions rather than simply follow the prevailing political tide.
Last week, President Mnangagwa recalled Parliament from its recess so that legislators could consider the amendments made by the Senate.
That extraordinary sitting underscored the urgency with which the Bill is being advanced.
The speed and manner in which these constitutional changes are being pursued have inevitably raised profound questions about the protection of Zimbabwe’s supreme law.
Constitutions are designed to provide stability, limit executive power and protect future generations from the excesses of transient political majorities.
They are not intended to become documents that are repeatedly altered whenever political convenience demands.
Parliament should be the nation’s foremost guardian of constitutionalism.
It exists to scrutinise legislation, defend the public interest and hold the Executive to account.
Instead, many Zimbabweans now see it as the chamber through which fundamental constitutional safeguards are steadily being dismantled.
The 2013 Constitution was born through national consensus.
Its alteration deserves the same degree of caution, consultation and respect.
Instead, Parliament increasingly resembles an execution chamber where one of Zimbabwe’s most significant democratic achievements is being methodically dismembered.
History will judge not only the amendments themselves, but also those who enabled them.
