The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, has said that following the completion of the public hearings on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill (No. 3), the committees involved will compile reports to be presented in the National Assembly.
In a recent interview, Ziyambi explained that once the 90-day period has passed, starting the week of 18 May, he will be in a position to formally introduce the bill in the National Assembly and give notice of its presentation.
“What is next, basically, is that the committees that were going right around the country soliciting the views of the people, be it orally or in writing, will then come back to Parliament, sit as a committee, look at all the submissions that they received, and then come up with committee reports.
“The committee reports that they prepare will then be presented in the National Assembly during the second reading speech, after I present the bill.
“So what will happen between now is once the 90 days have lapsed—which is the week beginning the 18th of May—I will now be in a position to go and formally introduce the bill in the National Assembly and give a notice of presentation of the bill.
“Thereafter, I would then give my second reading speech. Basically, the second reading speech is when I formally unpack the bill in the National Assembly, explaining the rationale behind the bill, explaining the clauses.
“And then after that, I will move that the bill be read the second time, opening up for debate in the National Assembly.
“That’s when the committee chairs will then present their committee reports about the consultations that they undertook and the recommendations pursuant to the public consultations,” said Ziyambi.
Ziyambi dismissed claims that electing the president through Parliament would undermine the liberation struggle principle of “one man, one vote”.
He insisted that Zimbabwe didn’t have direct presidential elections between 1980 and 1990, adding that “those that are arguing that by having an indirect election we are eroding the gains of the liberation struggle, we are removing ‘one man, one vote’, are totally misplaced.”
