7/29/2019 Extracts from the Constitution 2013.pdf

1/2

Vote No to draft constitution: MadhukuThe draft constitution leaves all power in the president, who is allowed to do what he/she wants.

1. The NCA strongly objects to the powers of the President. Here are the powers of the President.

is head of State, head of government and commander-in-chief (Section 89).

Parliament (Section 104).

(Section 104).

the President exercises Executive authority through Cabinet has no value because the Cabinet is the

President`s baby. All Cabinet ministers are hired and fired by the President at his/her pleasure.

de Parliament. This is bringing back

appointed non-constituency MPs (Section 104(3)).

Section 204).

tion 205).

etc). In making these appointments, all the President is required to do is to consult one of his/her ministers

(Chapter 11).

s the final say over the appointment of all judges (Section 180). Although there is

provision for interviews, the President has power to refuse to appoint any of those recommended and order the

Judicial Service Commission to start afresh.

one appoints the Attorney-General (Section 114) and may fire him/her at any time

(Section 115).

-General (Section 259).

missions including the Zimbabwe

Electoral Commission (Chapter 12).

highest worker (Section 203 (4)). The President still has this power after appointing a Minister for the Public

Service and the Civil Service Commission.

143 (3)).

te-of-no-confidence in his/her

government (Section 109 (4)).

to be decided by a future Parliament so that the political party controlling Parliament will shield the President

from answering questions (Section 140(3)).

office (Section 98).

ent in this regard is useless (Section 111).

y salary (called a pension) equal to the

salary of the sitting President (Section 102(3)). This is for life.

2. There are two Vice-Presidents (Section 92). We no longer need two Vice-Presidents in a new

constitution. Further, a person who has left office as Vice-President will continue to receive, for the rest of

his/her life, a monthly salary (called a pension) equal to the salary of a sitting Vice-President (Section 102 (3)).3. The size of Parliament has been increased to a total of 350 MPs (270 National Assembly and 80

Senators), (Section 120 and 124). The number increases to 355MPs with five ministers appointed by the

President. We have no resources for such a huge legislature. In 1980 there were 140 MPs, in 1990 we had 150,

in 2005 the number went up to 216 and in 2008 it became 303.

7/29/2019 Extracts from the Constitution 2013.pdf

2/2

4. The increase in the size of Parliament is coming from an additional 60 seats for women. For a woman to

qualify for any of these seats, she has to be a member of a political party. There are no direct elections for the

seats. The quota for female MPs should be taken out of the existing number of MPs without increasing the size

of Parliament.

5. Despite its huge size, Parliament remains very weak. It is just a talk shop. So why increase the number of

MPs to join a talk shop. The political parties are just creating employment for their supporters at the expense of

the people.

6. There are no term limits for Members of Parliament.

7. Except for the chapters on the Bill of Rights (Chapter 4) and Land (Chapter 16), this constitution can be

amended by Parliament without a referendum (Section 328). This means that all provisions, including those on

term limits, will be amended by future Parliaments, thus maintaining the current problem where the

constitution has been amended several times.

8. For the next 10 years, if the President resigns or dies, there are no by-elections for the President. The

country is given a President by the political party of the former President, yet people elect a person and not a

political party as President (See Paragraph 14, Schedule 6). This means that if there are internal fights in the

political party concerned, the country will have to go without a President until the political party sorts itself

out. Is this not making political parties more important than the country? The issue of running mates, which

will apply after 10 years did not come from the people.

9. There is no devolution at all. There are very weak Provincial Councils composed of the same people whoare in Parliament. MPs will have two jobs: the province and Parliament. The provincial Councils do not

govern anything in the Province (Chapter 14).

10. There is no provision compelling the State to allocate a specified minimum percentage of the nations

revenue to deal with the needs of the poor. A people-driven constitution will allocate specific funding for food,

health, education and water.

11. Most rights in the Bill of Rights are listed for decoration as there is no mechanism for their realisation.

12. For workers, the right to strike is very restricted and will not be available, while government workers

will continue to be subject to conditions of work different from those of other workers, such as with collective

bargaining.

13. There is no right to vote for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.

14. The Zimbabwe Media Commission established by the constitution (Section 248) will be an instrumentused by the state to undermine freedom of expression.

15. The winner-take-all electoral system is still intact despite the demand by the people for a mixed electoral

system, allowing proportional representation for half the MPs.

16. The death penalty does not apply to all female murderers and males above 70 years. This is undesirable.

If the death penalty is retained, it must not be applied in this discriminatory way (Section 48).

17. There are provisions which will apply after several years ranging from seven to 17 years. Why have

them in the constitution now? The idea is to have a constitution which will not affect the political leaders

promoting this constitution. Some provisions will disappear after 10 years.