Zanu PF’s outrageous demands for the new constitution

According to media sources yesterday, this is a summary, by Professor Welshman Ncube, of the outrageous demands being made by Zanu PF for the proposed new constitution. I find this a very useful summary of the kind of party Zanu PF is, and I hope other Zimbabweans will also read this as their’election manifesto’. Surely no sane or reasonable person can fail to see how incredibly self-serving this is for Zanu PF heavyweights, and how horrendous it will be for Zimbabwean citizens. These demands must be a humiliation to all Zanu PF supporters.

1. They have removed devolution entirely from the draft and deleted all references to devolution.
2. They have removed the Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
3. They have removed all indigenous languages from being official languages.
4. They have introduced mandatory national youth service.
5. They have removed the open, transparent and public interview process for the appointment of judges and replaced it with a Presidential appointment system.
6. They have done away with a separate Constitutional Court and replaced it with the status quo in terms of which the Supreme Court doubles up as a Constitutional Court.
7. They have banned dual citizenship for those who are Zimbabwean citizens by descent or registration.
8. They have mutilated the Bill of rights in many places including by deleting all references to democratic society.
9. They have redefined agricultural land to include any land used for poultry so that they would be able to take any building used to rear chickens.
10. They have taken out the Presidential running mate provisions and replaced them with the current system with the new provision that in the event of the office becoming vacant the replacement will be chosen by the party to which the President belonged.
11. They have reposed all executive authority in the President by deleting the provision which vested it in the President and Cabinet.
12. They have reconstituted the imperial Presidency by restoring virtually all the current Presidential powers and even added the new provision that Cabinet can only exercise authority under the direction of the President.
13. They have restored the current Presidential immunity provisions.
14. They have restored the Presidential power to declare war without any restraint or constraint
15. They have made all state institutions subject to the obligation to promote and defend the values of the liberation struggle.
16. They have stripped the Speaker of the National Assembly of all administrative powers and vested these in the Clerk of Parliament.
17. They have increased the composition of Senate by four.
18. They have re introduced unfettered Powers of the President to dissolve Parliament at his or her whim.
19. They have put one Chief into the Judicial Service Commission.
20. They have removed provisions limiting Permanent Secretaries to two five year terms.
21. They have taken out the provisions requiring a law regulate the CIO and requiring the CIO to be non partisan, professional and national in character.
22. They have inserted provisions which require independent commissions and the judiciary as well to promote and to be guided by the ideals and values of the liberation struggle.
23. They have re introduced the useless and failed office of Public Protector.
24. They have removed the democratic provisions for the appointment of the anti corruption commission.
25. They have deleted the provisions establishing an independent prosecuting authority and re established the present political office of attorney general.

This entry was posted by Hope on Friday, August 24th, 2012 at 6:59 pm.