Amendment Bill No.2: People of Zimbabwe are being taken for granted

By Shamiso Ndangana

Proportional Representation legislator Jasmine Toffa has said people of Zimbabwe are being taken for granted by not being an opportunity to meaningfully participate in Amendment Bill No.2.

The Amendment Bill which sailed through National Assembly last week is almost passing through the Senate.

However, Honourable Toffa is of the view that the amendment contained in the Bill are too many and people should have been engaged through a referendum.

“So rightfully if you look at the number of amendments that have been made and still to be made, we should be going to a referendum which we have not, so the people of Zimbabwe are being taken for granted.

“The constitution is not made for a person and should not be amended for a person but it should be maintained because the 2013 constitution was people driven constitution. Most Zimbabweans participated in the creation of the constitution,” she said.

Honourable Toffa added that Section 141 of the Constitution makes it mandator to involve the citizens in constitution making processes.

“The amendment of the constitution without the consultation of the people is a problem; it is actually against the constitution.

“When were the people of Zimbabwe consulted on these amendments and when l say that am talking about in accordance of the section 141 of the constitution which talks about the people’s participation in the making of the law because we are supposed to have public hearings, we are supposed to come into parliament and do verbatim reports and debate on these issues so this is where am coming from,” she said.

The amendment has raised a lot of dust in the country, with some legal experts saying that it was not properly amended.

Veritas Zimbabwe in its weekly Constitution Watch series was also not happy with the process.