By Karen Nyeraurombo
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have said legislators who voted for the passing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill No.2 should be held accountable for their actions.
Legislators in the National Assembly voted 191 in favour of the amendments while 22 voted against.
This saw the Bill being transmitted to the Senate where it currently in Committee Stage.
The Bill is being touted as the death of democracy as it gives President Emmerson Mnangagwa more powers that include promoting judges to higher courts without subjecting them to public interviews which is the current norm.
Besides the promoting of judges, the President is also being given power to alter the tenure of office for top judges.
If passed into law, the Bill will also do away with the issue of running mates and it also extends the life of the Proportional Representation clause for the National Assembly, among many others.
Speaking on behalf of the joint CSOs, ZCTU president Peter Mutasa the Bill dilutes democracy and weakens the law and people should hold their legislators accountable to that.
“We call on all progressive citizens to hold to account, one way or the other, their representatives in the National Assembly who voted for the amendment.
“We call on state actors to fully implement provision of the constitution and those responsible within government to fully align all laws with the constitution.
“The Amendment Bill dilutes democracy, it weakens the rule of law, it undermines the promotion and protection of human rights in Zimbabwe particularly those of a civil and political nature.
“The country is supposed to be focusing on alignment of laws to the new constitution, fully implementing provision of the constitution and not amending the constitution.
“We the undersigned CSOs in Zimbabwe call for alignment of laws with the constitution. The amendments are a mockery to democracy, a recipe for disaster and a violation of the principle of separation of powers,” he said.
The ZCTU president urged the citizens to use all available legal means to condemn and reject the amendments. He added that people must realise that freedom and prosperity do not come without fighting for it.
“We need to learn from our history and appreciate that there is no freedom, prosperity, equality, justice and equity that has been experienced by people without fighting for it.
“Even if we look at ourselves in terms of this 2013 constitution that we are talking about, it did not come at the benevolence of a dictator, it came through many actions, many persistent campaigns and programs.
“We have no option, there is not any other option, I’m telling this to labour, students and all progressive women’s organizations, there is no options besides coming together, we need to unite and make sure that we fight.-ENDS
