Lawyer Challenges Passage Of Constitution Amendment No 1 Bill
A Bulawayo-based lawyer, Nqobani Sithole, has lodged an application with the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe, challenging the passage of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.1) Bill H.B. 1A, (2017) in Parliament.
Sithole of Abammeli argues that parliament “failed to exercise its legislative authority” by reviving the Bill on March 24, 2021, when the Constitutional Bill had lapsed at the end of the previous parliament.
He is seeking a declaratory and consequential order in terms of Section 167(2)(d) of the constitution and seeks that the Constitutional Court declares the passing of Constitutional Amendment Bill (No. 2) of 2019 to be of no force and legal effect.
Speaking in an interview with CITE, Sithole said Parliament had amended Zimbabwe’s constitution illegally and thus violated the constitution. He said:
This Bill was brought into parliament in 2017 which was then dissolved, so all bills that were not passed then must be restarted.
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When they sought to challenge the constitution, Zanu pf needed a two-thirds majority which they failed to get.
So in the process of amending failed to get that, then the Constitutional Court said they must vote again but the ConCourt doesn’t have that power.
It must only declare whether the process was done properly or not so everything is wrong about that Bill.
Among other things, the Bill seeks to remove the running mates clause, extend the quota of extra women MPs by two more terms, add 10 more seats reserved for people aged 21 to 35, and extend the tenure of judges beyond 70 years of age.
