(Last Updated on April 13, 2021 by GERALD NCUBE)
HARARE – ZANU-PF secretary for legal affairs Paul Mangwana has said his party was given the right to make constitutional amendments when it won the two-thirds majority in the last elections.
Mangwana made the remarks while defending Constitutional amendment bill number one which recently sailed through the senate.
“It is the people’s Constitution, people choose leadership through a political process we call an election. When people gave Zanu PF a two-thirds majority, they also in that process gave it the right to amend the constitution if it so desires on their behalf yes it is still a people’s constitution.
“You do not necessarily have to run a country through a referendum every time that is why we have various ways of changing. We agreed during the Constitution-making process that if at any stage it becomes necessary to amend the Constitution the following processes should take place,” Mangwana said during a live interview with a local publication.
The Bill sailed through Senate with the help of the Douglas Mwonzora led MDC- T, who all except for Morgen Komichi voted yes.
If passed into law, the bill will give President Mnangagwa unilateral power to appoint judges without undergoing public interviews.
Meanwhile, the bill has received widespread criticism from the country’s main opposition party, MDC Alliance who argue that it will have a serious on negative impact democracy by giving ao much power to the President.
Renowned human rights activist Dewa Mavhinga has warned that the bill is likely going to be challenged in the courts.
“Constitutional Amendment (No.1) Bill, 2017, likely to be challenged in court again because it undermines judicial independence and was passed by the Senate unprocedurally. The Bill gives the President unilateral power to appoint judges outside public interviews,” Mavhinga tweeted.