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Align
Parly Acts with new Constitution
Wonai Masvingise, NewsDay
September 06, 2013
https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/09/06/align-parly-acts-new-constitution/
There are dozens
of Acts of Parliament that should be aligned with the new Constitution
to avoid conflicting interpretations of the law, legal experts have
said.
Lawyer Tawanda
Zhuwarara said all pieces of legislation had to be tested against
the new Constitution.
“Section
2 (1) states that the Constitution is the supreme law of Zimbabwe
and any law, practice, custom or conduct inconsistent with it is
invalid to the extent of the inconsistency,” Zhuwara said.
“It is
not possible to quantify which specific Act or provision has to
be brought in line with the Constitution. What you will see is a
number of cases being brought before the courts to realign the various
pieces of legislation or specific provisions with the new Constitution.
“You need
to understand that every piece of legislation is by operation of
section 10 of the 6th Schedule of the Constitution to continue in
force, but must be construed in conformity with this Constitution.”
Another lawyer,
Chris Mhike, said there were dozens of Acts of Parliament in Zimbabwe’s
statute book that had to be reviewed.
He said there
were a number of obvious statutes that were up for amendment or
repeal under the new Constitution.
These included
Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa), Public
Order and Security Act (Posa), Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act [that is, the Criminal Code],
the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act, the Civil Evidence Act, the Broadcasting
Services Act, and the Official
Secrets Act.
Mhike said Aippa
ought to be reviewed for its non-conformity with the new freedom
of expression, media freedom and access to information provisions
of the current basic law.
Posa, Mhike
said, now infringed in ways more serious than those observed previously
the various civil liberties that were enshrined in the new Constitution.
“The standards
for the treatment of citizens under police and prison authorities’
detention as captured in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act,
now fall short of the thresholds set in the new Constitution. The
other statutes violate the Constitution in their own various ways
in varying degrees,” he said.
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