Back to Index

Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 18) Bill, 2007 [H.B. 7, 2007]
June 08, 2007

Read the Draft Constitution of Zimbabwe incorporating the 18th Amendment

Read the September 12th Amendments to the Bill

Download this legislation
- Word 97  version (69KB)
- Acrobat PDF version (206KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.

Clarification

It has been widely assumed that the Bill requires the holding of combined Presidential and Parliamentary elections in March 2008 when President Mugabe’s current six-year term of office would expire under the present law. That is not so. In fact, the Bill could even extend his term of office by up to two years, by allowing him to remain in office until the five-year term of the present Parliament expires in mid-2010 - unless he chooses to dissolve Parliament before then.

Clause 2(1) of the Constitutional Amendment (No 18) Bill provides that an election to the office of President must take place at the same time as a general election of members of Parliament, but does not require the holding of an early general election in 2008. Clause 2(2) of the Bill states that amendments made by clause 2(1) apply to the President in office on the date when Amendment 18 comes into effect, notwithstanding the current section 29 of the Constitution, which states that the presidential term is limited to six years [the President’s current term will expire on 31st March 2008]. The effect of the Amendment Bill is, therefore, that President Mugabe’s term of office ends with the next general election, whenever that may be. A general election must be held in mid-2010, when the current Parliament’s five-year term will end, but will only be held before then if the President chooses to bring one about by dissolving Parliament.

So President Mugabe will not have to face the voters until 2010, unless he chooses to dissolve Parliament before then. He has said he would do so in March 2008, but this is a political decision not dictated by the provisions of the Constitutional Amendment.

Gazetted on the 8th June, 2007

Memorandum

This Bill will amend the Constitution in the following principal respects: firstly, to shorten the term of the office of President and make it run concurrently with that of Parliament; secondly, to change the composition of the Senate and House of Assembly; thirdly, to provide for the appointment of a Deputy Chief Justice; fourthly, to alter the title of the Commissioner of Police and Ombudsman to those of the “Commissioner-General of Police” and the “Public Protector” respectively; and finally, to make provision for the establishment and functions of an independent Human Rights Commission. The opportunity is also taken to correct errors that have become apparent in the text of the Constitution since the last amendment.

In more detail the individual clauses of the Bill provide as follows:

Clause 1
This clause sets out the Bill’s short title.

Clauses 2 and 3
These clauses seek to amend sections 28 and 29 of the Constitution in order to achieve the objects outlined below.

Firstly, it is proposed to reduce the Presidential term of office from 6 years to 5 years. The Presidential term is to run concurrently with the term of Parliament, and may be shortened or extended accordingly as the term of Parliament is shortened or extended in accordance with section 63(2), (5) or (6) of the Constitution.

Secondly, at present,, in terms of section 28(3) of the Constitution, if a President dies, resigns or is removed from office, an election must called within 90 days. It is proposed that in the event of such a casual vacancy in the office of the Presidency, the House of Assembly will sit as an electoral college to elect a successor.

Clause 4
This clause corrects the proviso to section 31H(5) of the Constitution (listing the circumstances under which the President must exercise his powers on the advice of Cabinet), in particular paragraph (c1) of that proviso (appointment of members of Parliament) by adding an omitted cross-reference to the power to appoint senators.

Clause 5
This clause seems to amend section 31J of the Constitution in order to make the House of Assembly alone responsible for voting on motions of no confidence in the Government and r resolutions in connection with public emergencies.

Clause 6
Presently, the Senate is composed of 66 Senators, of whom 50 are directly elected on a constituency basis. It is proposed to increase the number of seats in the Senate to 84. In addition to the 50 directly elected Senators and the President and the Deputy President of the Council of Chiefs, the Senate will be made up of the 10 Provincial Governors, 16 Chiefs and 6 Presidential appointees, two of whom will represent Harare and Bulawayo provinces.

Clause 7
Presently, the House of Assembly is composed of 150 members, of whom 120 are directly elected on a constituency basis, 10 are Provincial Governors, 8 are Chiefs and 12 are Presidential appointees. It is proposed to increase the number of seats in the House of Assembly to 210, of whom 200 will be directly elected and 10 will be Presidential appointees.

Clauses 8, 9 and 24
These clauses replace references to “Parliament” by appropriate references to the “House of Assembly” or “Senate and/or House of Assembly”.

Clause 10
This clause replaces section 60 of the Constitution that deals with the delimitation of constituencies. The replacement is consequential to the provision for the increase in the number of elected House of Assembly seats from 120 to 200 contained in the amendment made by clause 7, and the proposal to make the Delimitation Commission responsible for determining the boundaries of the senatorial constituencies.

Clause 11
This clause amends section 61 (“Zimbabwe Electoral Commission”) of the Constitution to the following effect: where the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission for the appointment of the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is not adopted by the President, it is proposed that the President will cause the Senate to be informed of this fact, and not both Houses of Parliament.

Clause 12
This clause replaces subsection (4) of section 63 of the Constitution that deals with the prorogation or dissolution of Parliament. The purpose of the amendment is to coordinate the beginning of the period from which the life of Parliament runs with the commencement of the period of the Presidential term (in other words, from the day when the President takes the oaths of loyalty and office under the new subsection (5) of section 28 of the Constitution).

Clauses 13 and 23
These clauses replace references to the “Commissioner of Police” by references to the “Commissioner-General of Police”.

Clauses 14
Where the recommendation of the Public Service Commission for the appointment of a Secretary to Cabinet or a Ministry is not adopted by the President, it is proposed that the President will cause the Senate to be informed of this fact, and not both Houses of Parliament.

Clauses 15, 17, 19 and 21
These clauses are consequential to the provision for the appointment of Deputy Chief Justice contained in the amendments effected by clause 16.

Clauses 16 and 18
These clauses make provision for the separate appointment of a Deputy Chief Justice, who will act as Chief Justice whenever the office of Chief Justice is vacant or the Chief Justice is for any reason unable to perform the functions of his or her office.

Furthermore, under clause 18, where the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission for the appointment of a Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice or Judge President is not adopted by the President, it is proposed that the President will cause the Senate to be informed of this fact, and not both Houses of Parliament.

Clauses 22, 26 and 28
These clauses make the necessary amendments to the Constitution in order to change the title of the “Ombudsman” to the more commonly comprehensible title of “Public Protector”. The functions of this office will also need to be subordinated to some extent to the functions of the proposed Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.
Furthermore, under clause 28, where the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission for the appointment of a Public Protector or Deputy Public Protector is not adopted by the President, it is proposed that the President will cause the Senate to be informed of this fact, and not both Houses of Parliament.

Clause 27
Pursuant to the United Nations General Assembly resolution 41/129 of the 4th December, 1986, which urged member States to set up national human rights institutions, this clause seeks to establish the Human Rights Commission, which will have the functions set out in subsection (5) (a) to (f) of the new section 108B.

Clause 30
This clause eliminates the last outdated references to the “common roll” of voters (since 1987 there has only been a single roll of voters).

BILL
To amend the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

ENACTED by the President and the Parliament of Zimbabwe.

1 Short title and dates of commencement
This Act may be cited as the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 18) Act, 2007.

Download the full document

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP