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Clemence Manyukwe News Editor—
THE government has gazetted the General Laws Amendment Bill in a development that will see 126 Acts of parliament being revised in a far reaching move aimed at realigning the legislation with the country’s Constitution that came into force in 2013. The Bill, which was gazetted on May 8, is a significant step towards the government’s stated objective of bringing more than 400 laws into conformity with the Constitution.
Major changes have been proposed in the Electoral Act; the Interpretation Act; the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament as well as the Criminal Law (Codification and reform) Act.
Changes in other laws update titles or names of institutions that changed from the old Constitution such as the Prisons and Correctional Service that was previously referred to as the Prisons Service and the Civil Service that was previously referred to as the Public Service.
Under an amendment to the Electoral Act, voter registration becomes a function of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), not the Registrar General.
“This amendment confers on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, through the agency of the Chief Elections Officer, the function of the registration of voters (including claims for transfers of registration) previously exercised by the Registrar-General of Voters, whose office will be abolished,” reads part of the Bill.
“At the same time it requires the Commission and the former Registrar-General of Voters, in his or her capacity as the Registrar-General of Births and Deaths, the Registrar-General of Citizenship and the Registrar-General of Registrar-General of National Registration, to co-operate with each other to ensure that their respective databases, as they relate to the eligibility or potential eligibility of voters, are in harmony with each other.”
An amendment to the criminal law code, confirms the Constitutional position that a law may permit the death penalty to be imposed subject to certain restrictions: it cannot be imposed on women; it cannot also be mandatory but must allow a court’s discretion and can only be imposed for murder committed in aggravating circumstances.
“Accordingly, the section in the Criminal Law Code providing for the crime of murder is amended to provide that the death penalty for murder is competent only where the crime is committed in certain aggravating circumstances, and even then a court has a discretion to impose a sentence of imprisonment for life or a prison sentence of at least 20 years,” adds the Bill.
Sections of the criminal code that have a bearing on freedom of expression and criminal defamation remain unchanged.
The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Professor Jonathan Moyo, is on record as saying there was “something medieval about criminal defamation”.
He added that his ministry had reviewed criminal defamation in terms of the new Constitution and concluded that there was no legal basis for retaining a law that was against progressive values rooted in the liberation struggle.
In other amendments, the General Laws amendment Bill seeks to amend the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act by giving the legislative assembly new powers to imprison offenders. Section 148 of the new Constitution says that “no Act may permit Parliament or its Members or officers to impose any punishment in the nature of a criminal penalty, other than a fine, for breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament.’’
However, in providing for parliament to fix a custodial sentence for offenders, the Bill says this is not in breach of the Constitution and offers an explanation.
“This does not violate the spirit of section 148 of the Constitution. A criminal penalty, even if not imposed in conjunction with a custodial sentence, is generally backed up by the alternative of imprisonment if the fine is not paid (see section 3-P of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act): the reason for this is that it is very expensive and time consuming to recover a fine through civil processes in the civil courts,” it says.
“Often the costs involved exceed the amount of the fine (and if the fine is pitched too high it may encounter constitutional objections as being disproportionate); furthermore, because the offender is free of the fear of imprisonment, there is no incentive for him or her to pay it timeously, if at all”.
There are minor changes to the Refugees Act; the Children Act; Administrative Court Act; the Courts and Adjudicating Authorities (Publicity Restriction) Act; the Magistrates Court Act; the Prisons Act; the Class Action Act.
There are also changes to the Class Action Act; the Prevention of Corruption Act; the Anti-Corruption Act, the Emergency Powers Act; the Defence Act and the War Veterans Act.
The Railways Act, the Roads Act; the Electricity Act and the Rural Electrification Act are also up for amendment.
Laws governing a number of universities that include the University of Zimbabwe, the National University of Science and Technology and the Midlands State University among others each have a proposed amendment that reads: “Where the Board deems it fit to appoint a second Pro-Vice Chancellor, the Board shall submit a written justification of the reasons thereof to the Permanent Secretary, who shall in consultation with the Minister approve or disapprove such appointment.”
An amendment to the Trade Marks Act gives the “Madrid Protocol” the force of law in Zimbabwe. The Madrid Protocol relates to the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Madrid Agreement of 1989 on registering of international trade marks.
Online Reporter