Zim stops land-grab challenges
2005-08-30 15:49
Special Report
Zimbabwe's constitutional affairs minister has cast doubt on President Robert Mugabe's bid to hold elections this year.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Harare - Lawmakers endorsed a constitutional overhaul on Tuesday that sharply restricts property rights and allows Zimbabwe's government to deny passports to its critics.
Ruling party representatives erupted into cheering, singing and dancing after rallying 103 votes - more than the two-thirds required to pass the 22-clause Constitutional Amendment Bill.
The number of opposing votes was drowned out in the pandemonium.
The legislation now goes from the 150-member parliament to President Robert Mugabe to sign into law.
Prominent local and international lawyers have described the amendments as the greatest challenge yet to civil liberties in this increasingly autocratic country.
But justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said they would "close the chapter of colonisation".
Amendments add to 'repressive measures'
The amendment bill, the 17th since independence from Britain in 1980, abolishes freehold property titles, strips landowners of their right to appeal against expropriation and allows the government to deny passports if it is deemed in the national interest.
It also creates a 66-seat senate, which critics claim the ruling party will use to increase its patronage powers.
Lovemore Madhuku, whose National Constitutional Assembly reform alliance mobilised opposition to Mugabe's attempt in 2000 to entrench his rule indefinitely, predicted swift implementation of the new changes.
"I think (Mugabe) is likely to sign the bill into law in the fastest possible time - even within four days or so," said Madhuku. "He wants to have elections for the senate by October."
Madhuku said the amendments add to a host of repressive measures already imposed by Mugabe's government.
"But in time, it will eventually collapse," he said. "Do you think the people are going to accommodate this for all time?"
MDC to fight bill
There had been concerns within Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) that the party might not mobilise enough support to pass the legislation after it cleared a preliminary ballot with just 61 votes to 28.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has 41 seats in Parliament, and the lone independent legislator, Mugabe's former propaganda chief Jonathan Moyo, had vowed to fight the bill.
The MDC says approval of the amendments will destroy any hope of agreement with Western donors for desperately needed aid.
A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was wrapping up a visit this week to reassess Zimbabwe's economic crisis ahead of a September 9 board meeting which could expel the country for failing to make payments on $295m in arrears.
The seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black Zimbabweans, combined with years of drought, have crippled the country's agriculture-based economy.
About four million are in urgent need of food aid in what was once a regional breadbasket, according to United Nations estimates.
- AP