Government expects to complete aligning all laws to the
Constitution before year-end, with the outstanding 50 statutes to be tabled
before Parliament within the next three months.
The enactment of the Constitution in 2013 meant more than
400 laws which were out of sync with some of the refreshed provisions of the
supreme law had to be aligned, while 63 needed to either be repealed,
extensively amended or redrafted.
Out of the 63 laws, 10 have been passed by Parliament and
assented to by the President.
The General Laws Amendment (Statutory Bodies and Gender
Parity Provisions) Bill No. 1 provided for minor amendments to 125 laws, while
the General Laws Amendment (Statutory Bodies and Gender Parity Provisions) Bill
No. 2 — which is still being developed — provides for minor amendments to 66
laws.
The Sunday Mail gathered that an Inter-Ministerial Task
Force (IMT) on the Alignment of Legislation to the Constitution, which was
created to expedite the process, is also updating Cabinet weekly, while all
State law officers have been trained in legal drafting.
The Centre for Applied Legal Research (CALR) — a research
institution that offers specialised legal training and technical support —
oversaw the training.
Secretry for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs
Virginia Mabiza said the task force is using a real-time Bill Tracker to
expeditiously gazette new Bills.
“The Attorney-General is the driver of the alignment
process and he is also the chief drafter,” said Mrs Mabiza.
“I agree he has been doing a lot on the ground, including
developing a Bill tracking mechanism which they are using to quicken the
process.
“We only have less than 50 pieces of legislation that
require alignment and we are working on a strategy to table these Bills before
the end of June.”
The IMT has divided laws requiring alignment into 10
different clusters —media and information laws; citizenship and movement of
people; security; local government; social services; environment and natural
resources; justice delivery; economic services; political and civil rights; and
the cross-cutting clusters.
Under the media and information laws cluster, the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act is being repealed and will be
replaced by the three separate pieces of legislation —the Zimbabwe Media
Commission Bill, the Freedom of Information Bill and the Protection of Personal
Information Bill.
Both the ZMC Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill are
before Parliament, while the Protection of Personal Information Bill will be
tabled this month, according to IMT Bill Tracker.
Also under the same cluster, the draft Broadcasting
Services Amendment Bill has been developed and stakeholder consultations were
undertaken after principles for the Bill were approved in May 2019.
Under the citizenship and movement of people cluster,
principles for the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Bill were approved by Cabinet on
February 26 2019 and the draft Bill was prepared.
It is now awaiting submission to the Cabinet Committee on
Legislation (CCL).
“Principles for the Immigration Amendment Bill were
approved by Cabinet on February 5 2019. A draft Bill was prepared and is
awaiting submission to the CCL,” reads the Bill Tracker.
Laws awaiting alignment under the security cluster include
amending the Official Secrets Act, the Police Act, the Unlawful Organisations
Act, the Defence Act, the Emergency Powers Act, the Interception of
Communications Act, National Security Council Act and the Prisons Act.
“The Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Bill repeals and
replaces the War Veterans Act and Ex-Political Detainees and Restrictees Act.
“The Bill was approved by Cabinet on September 10 2019 and
was gazetted on November 1 2019.
“The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill was
assented to on January 5 2018 and is now an Act of Parliament,” according to
the last information from the Bill Tracker.
In addition, six laws will be aligned under the local
government cluster to facilitate devolution.
Principles of the Provincial Councils and Administration
Bill were approved by Cabinet in November 2018 and the draft Bill has been
forwarded to the AG’s Office.
The Bill is now awaiting the outcome of the proposed
Constitutional amendments for it to be completed.
According to CALR, 13 laws have now been aligned to the
Constitution.
“CALR is providing technical and financial support to the
Government for the alignment process.
“The technical support entails: technical legal research to
identify gaps in laws that line Ministries administer; legislative drafting –
development of draft Bills; stakeholder consultations – technical and
grassroots; technical support to the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on the
Alignment of Legislation to the Constitution (IMT)
“On the number of laws that have been aligned to the
Constitution, there is a difference between alignment, reform and law revision.
“The IMT is concerned with alignment, which means ensuring
that existing laws are in conformity to the provisions of the Constitution.
“IMT developed an IMT Bill Tracker which outlines the
priority laws that need to be aligned and the stage that these laws are at.
“In terms of the Bill Tracker, 13 laws have been aligned;
50 laws are remaining.” Sunday Mail
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