Parly passes Bills at the expense of constitutionalism, rule of law

IN Parliament between June 6 and 8, six Bills were passed by both Houses.

They include the Electricity Amendment Bill, Prisons and Correctional Service Bill, Children’s Amendment Bill, Labour Amendment Bill, Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill and Electoral Amendment Bill.

This looks like an impressive number of Bills that government managed to get through Parliament in the last three fast-tracking/fast-moving weeks.

Unfortunately, however, this feat was achieved at the expense of constitutionalism and the rule of law.

All six Bills, as passed, are marred by defects which could and should have been attended to by Parliament much earlier, but the Bills were left until the closing weeks of the session and this Parliament for reasons known only to ministers and, perhaps the party chief whips.

As a result, one is left with the impression that all the Bills have been passed with less than the required attention.

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On Tuesday June 6, the Electricity Amendment Bill sailed through all its stages in the Senate and was passed.

Senators were enthusiastic about the mandatory penalties.

Veritas analysed this Bill in Bill Watch 42/2022 of September 16, 2022. We noted that at least one of the mandatory penalties introduced by the Bill is so excessive as to be unconstitutional, and that the Bill contains several drafting errors.

These defects were eloquently pointed out in the National Assembly to no avail. They were not even raised in the Senate, which disposed of the Committee Stage without objection or debate.

On Tuesday June 6, the Prisons and Correctional Service Bill was taken through all its stages in the Senate.

One of its notable features, mentioned by Senators during the Second Reading debate, is the availability of parole, to be conducted under the supervision of the State Parole Board, to all prisoners except for those under sentence of death, instead of being limited to prisoners serving extended imprisonment only.

In view of its greatly extended functions, it is unfortunate that there is only one Parole Board for the whole country.

Bill Watch 16/2023 suggested that each province should have a Parole Board. This may have prevented the unfortunate release of some dangerous prisoners during the last amnesty.

The same Bill Watch also identified other defects which were not corrected during the Committee Stage in the National Assembly, including an inconsistency with the Constitution that allows the minister to make regulations on a subject reserved to the Prisons and Correctional Service Commission.

On Wednesday June 7, the Children’s Amendment Bill sailed easily through all its stages in the Senate.

As in the National Assembly, there was no attempt by Senators to remedy the defect that it fails to align the Children’s Act with the Child Justice Bill, which passed through Parliament in March.

Veritas drew attention to the implications of this defect in Bill Watch 23/2022 of May 30, 2022.

On Wednesday June 7, the Labour Amendment Bill also went through all its stages and was passed without objection from senators.

An important amendment made to the Bill by the National Assembly was to abolish the right of an employer to terminate a contract of employment by giving notice in terms of section 12(4) of the Labour Act.

It is odd that it was left for so long — it was introduced in January 2022 — and was then rushed through.

This Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill (“Patriot Bill”) appeared for the first time on the Senate Order Paper for Wednesday June 7.

No attempt was made during the Committee Stage to propose remedying the various defects in the Bill listed in Bill Watch 23/2023 and referring to our full analysis of the Bill in Bill Watch 1/2023 of January 11, 2023.

The Bill that was passed differed only slightly from the original Bill as the result of the minor changes made by the National Assembly to clause 2(3) at the instance of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister.

It remains a bad Bill and will become a bad Act if the President assents to it ‑ unconstitutional, in its specification of the death penalty for the new crime of unpatriotic behaviour [Clause 2] and the mandatory sentences for rape without provision for the cases in which “special circumstances” justifying departure from the mandatory minimums are present.

It will curtail freedom of speech and other civil liberties essential for democracy to thrive. The Bill is critiqued in Bill Watch 1/2023.

In the National Assembly, the Electoral Amendment Bill had ended the previous week under consideration by the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) for its report on the amendments made by the National Assembly during the Committee Stage.

The PLC’s non-adverse report was announced at the beginning of the sitting on Tuesday June 6.

But in the absence of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister, who was fully occupied in the Senate, there was no further action that afternoon.

On Wednesday June 7, however, the minister was present and the Bill was taken through its final stages, passed and transmitted to the Senate.

In the Senate, the minister took the Bill through all its stages in the Senate on Thursday June 8.

Senators did not attempt to propose any amendments during the Committee Stage.

The result of government’s handling of this Bill is extremely disappointing.

After an initial rush in mid-December 2022 (First Reading of Bill and non-adverse PLC report) which was cut short by the Christmas and January recess, there were two hasty virtual public hearings on January 30 and 31, followed on February 2 by the minister’s Second Reading speech and the presentation of Portfolio Committee’s report on the public hearings.

Then there was a break of over three months until May 18, when the minister chose to resume getting the Bill passed by the National Assembly.

Only five or six of the 40-odd electoral reform amendments that MPs had proposed during the Committee Stage succeeded in being accepted by the minister and the governing party.

The Bill contains few, if any, of the electoral reforms recommended by the observer missions that reported on the 2018 elections or the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission report into the violence that followed them.

On the motion of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister, acting on behalf of Transport and Infrastructural Development minister, both Houses approved bilateral air service agreements concluded by Zimbabwe with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mozambique, Jordan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Gambia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Ethiopia and Iran.

Parliament’s approval in terms of section 327 of the Constitution is necessary for the agreements to become binding on Zimbabwe. - Veritas

THE year 2023 marks the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), providing an opportunity for the United Nations to put the spotlight on human rights across the globe.

To mark the anniversary of this historic document, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, launched a global Human Rights 75 Initiative.

In Zimbabwe, the 75th anniversary of the UDHR provides an opportunity for the United Nations and stakeholders in government, civil society and the business sector to rekindle the hope of human rights for every person.

To mark the launch of the national Human Rights 75 Initiative in Zimbabwe, the UN resident and humanitarian co-ordinator Edward Kallon said: “Rights violations reverberate across borders and across generations. These can be, must be, collectively overcome. As the world faces challenges, new and ongoing pandemics, conflicts, exploding inequalities, moral bankruptcy, global financial system collapse, racism, climate change — the values, and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for our collective actions that do not leave anyone behind.”

Activities to advance the Human Rights 75 Initiative will run throughout the year and culminate in a high-level event convened by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, together with a group of leaders and co-hosted by the Government of Switzerland.

This event, which will take place from December 11 to 12, 2023 will provide all member States and other stakeholders an opportunity to submit pledges for transformative change and progress in the cause of human rights.

In recognition of the Human Rights 75 Initiative global thematic focus for June highlighting women’s rights, activities for the rest of the month will leverage on the achievements of the Spotlight Initiative, a joint programme to eliminate violence against women and girls implemented by the United Nations and Partners with funding from the European Union.

Pointing out the need to raise awareness on the interdependence and interconnectedness of women’s rights in all spheres of life, UN Women country representative Fatou Lo said: “No meaningful social contract is possible without the active and equal participation of women and girls. Equal participation in leadership, economic inclusion, and gender-balanced decision-making are simply better for everyone, men, and women alike.”

The UDHR is a foundational blueprint for taking concrete actions to stand up for human rights including women’s rights and tackle pressing social, economic and political issues of today.

The UN in Zimbabwe calls on government and all stakeholders to rekindle the spirit, impulse, and vitality of the UDHR and renew a national consensus on advancing human rights. -United Nations