Zim parliament approves controversial legal reforms

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill that stops white farmers from legally challenging land grabs, curtails the travel rights of those deemed anti-government and disenfranchises people without full citizenship.

The widely condemned Constitutional Amendment Bill was passed by 103 votes against 29 in the 150-member house where President Robert Mugabe’s party has 107 parliamentarians. Introducing the bill in parliament, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the amendments would bring to a full circle Zimbabwe’s war against British colonial rule which culminated in independence in 1980.”This amendment will conclude the third chimurenga (war of liberation in the Shona language) and the process of decolonisation,” he said.”It’s my hope that the process will be concluded with honesty and integrity.”The bill will also disenfranchise all those who have one or more foreign parents and hold permanent residency status but not full citizenship.Another provision stipulates that anybody deemed anti-national will not be allowed to travel abroad.Chinamasa defended it, saying: “It’s not morally right and patriotic for any Zimbabwean to gallivant the world on a Zimbabwean passport asking for a military invasion of Zimbabwe or the imposition of official and unofficial sanctions.”The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party denounced the bill, saying the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party was doing what it pleased.MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube told AFP: “This is the rape of democracy,” while its chief whip in parliament, Innocent Gonese, said: “We have witnessed the death of constitutionalism in Zimbabwe.””This is a very sad chapter in our history,” Gonese said.The bill will also re-introduce a bicameral parliament in a move that critics said was aimed at beefing up the ruling party’s presence in the legislature and to accommodate Zanu-PF members who lost parliamentary elections earlier this year.Zimbabwe’s land reforms, which began, often violently, in 2000 after the rejection in a referendum of a government-sponsored draft constitution, have seen some 4 000 white farmers lose their properties.- Nampa-AFPIntroducing the bill in parliament, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the amendments would bring to a full circle Zimbabwe’s war against British colonial rule which culminated in independence in 1980.”This amendment will conclude the third chimurenga (war of liberation in the Shona language) and the process of decolonisation,” he said.”It’s my hope that the process will be concluded with honesty and integrity.”The bill will also disenfranchise all those who have one or more foreign parents and hold permanent residency status but not full citizenship.Another provision stipulates that anybody deemed anti-national will not be allowed to travel abroad.Chinamasa defended it, saying: “It’s not morally right and patriotic for any Zimbabwean to gallivant the world on a Zimbabwean passport asking for a military invasion of Zimbabwe or the imposition of official and unofficial sanctions.”The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party denounced the bill, saying the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party was doing what it pleased.MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube told AFP: “This is the rape of democracy,” while its chief whip in parliament, Innocent Gonese, said: “We have witnessed the death of constitutionalism in Zimbabwe.””This is a very sad chapter in our history,” Gonese said.The bill will also re-introduce a bicameral parliament in a move that critics said was aimed at beefing up the ruling party’s presence in the legislature and to accommodate Zanu-PF members who lost parliamentary elections earlier this year.Zimbabwe’s land reforms, which began, often violently, in 2000 after the rejection in a referendum of a government-sponsored draft constitution, have seen some 4 000 white farmers lose their properties.- Nampa-AFP