Govt to entrench civil liberties

GOVERNMENT is working on entrenching civil liberties as enshrined in the Constitution as part of its 100-day plan.

The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi, said his Ministry was working on translating the Constitution into local languages so that people appreciate their Constitutional rights.

Cde Ziyambi said his Ministry’s main thrust is to ensure that there is rule of law, justice and ease of doing business. He said they would also work on improving access to justice.

Cde Ziyambi said his ministry has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see the Constitution being translated into local languages.

“The other thing that we feel is also important is that we want to embark on the translation of the Constitution into various languages. So we’ve engaged the Catholic bishops and universities so that they produce the constitution in various languages so that we distribute and increase public awareness about people’s rights, their constitutional rights and what they should expect from the Government,” he said.

“This we are going to do within the next 100 days and we are going to ensure that we expedite that.”

Cde Ziyambi last month signed an MoU with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) that will see the church spear-heading the translation of the Constitution of Zimbabwe into four vernacular languages.

The church has since engaged legal experts and top linguists to translate the supreme law of the country into Shona, Ndebele, Tonga and Kalanga.

Section 7 of the Constitution obliges Government to translate the supreme law into 16 recognised languages, including English. Zimbabwe has been operating with only the English version since the Constitution’s inception in 2013.

Cde Ziyambi said in the 100-day plan, they were also working on setting up dedicated courts for corruption cases.

“In terms of the National Prosecuting Authority we want them to set up dedicated corruption courts that will deal with corruption cases and make sure that they are expedited and completed within a reasonable time where people can notice that something is happening,” he said.

Cde Ziyambi said they were also targeting recruiting prosecutors that are degreed to ensure that there is professionalism.

Turning to elections, Cde Ziyambi said his Ministry would ensure that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is well funded. He said they will also push the Electoral Bill which is before Parliament.

“These are some of the things that we are looking at over and above ensuring that Zec is supported to the effect that they will be able to deliver a free, fair and credible election this year.

Alignment of laws is something that we are doing, we are liaising with line Ministries that have not been forthcoming to ensure that the laws within their purview are line and the Attorney General is spearheading that through the Inter-ministerial committee,” said Cde Ziyambi.

“We have a Bill which is before Parliament, we have had public hearings and if there are issues that are going to come up, I think we are going to discuss at committee stage. By and large I have to say that our electoral laws meet the SADC and AU guidelines and we feel that with what we have it’s very much possible to have a free, fair and credible elections.” — @AuxiliaK