Zim constitution to change
2005-08-25 14:20
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Special Report
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says some white farmers will be spared under his controversial land reforms.
Zimbabwe's coalition government still has many challenges to face.
Michael Hartnack
Harare - A slate of amendments that critics warn will seriously reduce constitutional protections and freedoms in Zimbabwe cleared a first vote in Parliament on Wednesday.
After a stormy debate, lawmakers voted 61 to 28 to approve the Constitutional Amendment Bill. The 22-clause bill provides for a new 40-seat senate, abolishes freehold property titles, strips landowners of their right to appeal against expropriation and allows the government to deny passports to its critics.
The document now goes back for further debate before a final vote expected next week.
Jonathan Moyo, Mugabe's former propaganda chief and now Parliament's lone independent, caused an uproar when he accused his former party of creating the second chamber to give it the political patronage it needs to ensure the 81-year-old leader can decide for himself when and how he retires.
Amendments a 'great challenge'
Claiming knowledge of secret briefings by the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), Moyo said the government party only planned to keep the senate for five years.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said the changes were needed to complete Mugabe's "fast track" redistribution of 5 000 white-owned commercial farms to black Zimbabweans.
He argued the land was acquired fraudulently, and white farmers were frustrating its return to its rightful owners with court appeals.
Prominent lawyers have described the amendments as "the greatest challenge yet" to Zimbabweans' liberties.
Judiciary's authority reduced
Nicholas Howen, head of the International Commission of Jurists, said the limits on freedom of movement were "unwarranted, ill-defined and also dangerous".
"Moving the legality of these expropriations beyond the protective reach of the courts, and removing the right to fair compensation are yet another step in undermining the rule of law in Zimbabwe," he said in a statement issued on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland.
"It violates Zimbabwe's obligations under international law and is an attempt to reduce the authority of an independent judiciary as a check on government actions."
The amendments need at least 100 votes to clear the final stage before Mugabe signs them into law.
"To only have 61 for the second reading is quite serious for him," said Trudy Stevenson of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which opposes the bill.
Zanu-PF has 108 seats, compared to 41 for the opposition. But there have been hints some disgruntled ruling party legislators might boycott the final vote.
- AP