More constitutional amendments proposed
THE Government intends to consolidate some of the five independent commissions established under Chapter 12 of the Constitution in order to eliminate redundancy and streamline their operations.
The five are the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC); the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC); the Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC); the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC); and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC).
There are concerns that all of them, with the exception of ZEC, focus on promoting and protecting human rights enshrined in Chapter 4 of the Constitution, such as the right to life, basic services, and freedoms of assembly and expression. The proposed changes, which require amendments to the Constitution, will likely be presented during the current session of the 10th Parliament.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told The Sunday Mail recently that the Government had begun identifying areas where functions are being duplicated.
“On the consolidation of Chapter 12 commissions, the first thing we have to appreciate is, during the formulation of the Constitution, lots of negotiations were done; lots of compromises were done. It is a very good document, but it can be improved,” he said.
“The Constitution has several duplications. For instance, gender issues are human rights issues, but we had to come up with a separate commission that is doing exactly that — the ZHRC.
“Fortunately, we had put in the Constitution that the NPRC has a lifespan.
“However, some of the functions that were given to the NPRC are the same as what the ZHRC is doing.
“So, we are in the process of trying to look at all the commissions and grouping those that have the same functions together.”
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