There were no mistakes in CAB3: Ziyambi

Nyore Madzianike and Farirai Machivenyika

THE Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, has clarified that the Constitutional Amendment No. 3 Bill was not riddled with mistakes and was not recommitted to the National Assembly for corrections, contrary to reports in some sections of the media.

Minister Ziyambi said the Bill was gazetted on February 16 and remained in the public domain for more than 90 days, during which it was subjected to extensive public commentary.

He said no mistakes were identified during that period before the Bill was passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate.

The Minister made the clarification after the Bill was recommitted to the Committee Stage during a sitting of Parliament.

“We are not here because it was found to be riddled with mistakes, and therefore, we are here to correct the alleged mistakes.

“I think I should put the record straight so that we all move in the same direction.

“Honourable Chair, nothing could be further from the truth.

“We are here because the Bill has been overwhelmingly passed by the National Assembly, was considered by the Senate and, in the exercise of its constitutional function, made amendments to it.

“Those amendments have been recommitted to the National Assembly for reconsideration.

“Honourable Chair, that is the ordinary working of a bicameral Parliament with two Chambers.

“It is nothing more than that, and we must applaud the Senate that they are doing their work.

“It is not a rubber stamping the body,” he said.

Minister Ziyambi added: “This bill was gazetted by the Speaker on the 16th of February.

“It lay in the public domain for more than 90 days before it received its first reading in the National Assembly on the 2nd of June.

“Throughout that period, it was the subject of closed, animated and extensive public commentary, and in all that time, not one error or mistake was pointed out by anyone.

“A Bill that has stood before the nation for more than 90 days cannot fairly, Honourable Chair, be described as having been riddled with mistakes, when not a single mistake was pointed out during its public scrutiny.

Minister Ziyambi said the recommittal of the Bill to the National Assembly demonstrated that the two Houses were functioning as intended.

“Some Senators brought their observations to me, and I adopted them and tabled them while other Senators tabled their own amendments.

“That is precisely the work for which a second chamber exists.

“It is not a mark of carelessness.

“It is the system of two chambers working exactly as they are meant to work.

“In so doing, the Senate has put to rest the tired claim that it is no more than a rubber stamp.

“What is now described as the correction of mistakes is in truth, one House completing and refining the work of the other,” he said.