Rev Mtata Accuses MPs Of Betraying Voters, Demands Referendum On CAB3

The Principal of the United Theological College (UTC), Reverend Kupakwashe Mtata, has criticised the handling of Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3), saying the process violates the Constitution and undermines Zimbabweans’ covenant as a nation.

He was speaking on Friday at the launch of Sungano yeVanhu/Ubumbano lomphakathi, The People’s Coalition, a broad alliance of constitutional movements, churches, labour unions, civic organisations, war veterans and political groups.

Mtata said no group could lawfully alter key aspects of the Constitution without the people’s “true consent”.

“We created this together,” Mtata said. “No one, a group of people, can change certain aspects of the Constitution without getting our true consent. Consent granted under any form of duress cannot count.”

He stressed that the issue was about “honouring the agreement we made together as a nation” and ensuring “the Constitution being supreme, not the whims of politicians, not the hunger for power”.

Mtata said recent developments around CAB3 were “profoundly wrong on four counts”.

First, he cited a “procedural violation”, arguing the process did not reflect the will of the people. “In the past week, there’s been minimal genuine consultation of the people of Zimbabwe on CAB3,” he said.

Instead, proposed changes “were pushed through government-owned media as a government resolution to which citizens were required to agree”.

“Alternative views were refused expression. Dissenting voices were silenced. This is not a consultation. This is propaganda,” he added.

Second, he pointed to what he called “the corruption of the parliament”. Mtata accused some legislators of abandoning their constituencies for personal gain.

“When parliamentarians have been bought like goods in a market. This is not leadership. This is corruption. This is not the people’s parliament,” he said.

He argued that the endorsement of CAB3 by such MPs was “divorced from the will of the people they claim to serve”, adding: “This is corruption and corruption that destroys democracy.”

The third violation, Mtata said, involved freedom of expression. “Some people who spoke against this bill were harassed. Some were threatened. Some were harmed,” he said. “When people are denied the right to express their opinion… that is not democracy. That is a dictatorship. That is the suppression of fundamental human rights.”

“Freedom of expression is not negotiable,” he added. “Without it, we have tyranny.”

Fourth, he accused authorities of bypassing a mandatory referendum. Citing Section 328 of the Constitution, Mtata said certain amendments — including, in his view, CAB3 — must be decided by the people directly.

“Not parliament, again, not parliament, not politicians, but the people directly through a referendum,” he said. “We have seen the Constitution being ignored deliberately and systematically.”

He argued the constitutional provision existed for a clear reason: “Those in positions of power… should not decide changes that effectively extend their stay in power without the people’s true and direct permission.”

Mtata said citizens had a duty to scrutinise how entrusted power is used. “As citizens, we have a responsibility to pay attention to how power is used by those to whom we have entrusted our power. We have a responsibility to speak when something is wrong. What we have witnessed is wrong,” he said.