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Legislation
update - Bill Watch 29/2013
Veritas
July 17, 2013
Legislation
update
Acts
of 2013 already gazetted
Bills
passed by Parliament not yet gazetted as Acts
The following Acts await gazetting following Parliament’s
passing of the relevant Bills in its dying days:
- Electricity
Amendment Act
- Securities
Amendment Act
- Microfinance
Act
- Income Tax
Act.
No reforms
of Acts curtailing civil liberties
Apart from the
new Constitution, and the Bills recently pushed through by the Minister
of Finance, there has been very little legislative activity this
year. Parliament had plenty of time to handle more Bills, but none
of the hoped-for democratic reform Bills indicated in the Global
Political Agreement and Short Term Economic Recovery Plan were
presented by the inclusive government. Attempts to go an alternative
route and get reforms passed by introducing Private Members Bills
were finally blocked by court proceedings culminating in the Supreme
Court judgment ruling out such Bills for the remainder of the GPA.
This means that POSA
and AIPPA, and repressive
provisions of the Criminal Law Code, remain as they were for the
2008 elections, with all their considerable potential for frustrating
the levelling of the electoral playing field and the holding of
free, fair and credible elections.
SI 85/2013
– Electoral Act Amendment – Never laid before Parliament
SI 85/2013 –
the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Electoral
Act) Regulations gazetted on 12th June was made under powers
conferred on the President by the Presidential
Powers (Temporary Measures) Act. Section 4 of this Act requires
copies of all such regulations to be laid before Parliament “no
later than the eighth day on which Parliament sits next after the
regulations were made”. After 12th June, Parliament sat on
another seven days [13th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 26th and 27th
June] before adjourning for good. The regulations were not laid
before either House on any one of those last seven days. Now that
the Seventh Parliament has expired, it is impossible for the SI
to be laid, and Minister Chinamasa and the President are off the
hook.
Comment: This
adds one more item to the list of legally unsatisfactory aspects
of the transition to the new Constitution. But at this late stage
the Constitutional Court, having already endorsed the 31st July
election, is obviously unlikely to entertain further legal objections
to the basis of the electoral process now under way.
SI 85 is a temporary
measure, valid for 180 days only enough to provide for the coming
election. In mid-December, on the 181st day, the SI will fall away
completely, leaving the Electoral Act as it was before the SI was
gazetted on 12th June. So a high priority early task for the next
Government and Parliament will be the passing of a Bill to bring
the Electoral Law into line with the new Constitution – preferably
a Bill for an entirely new Electoral Act rather than another amending
Bill.
Quorum
query on Parliament’s passing of Income Tax Bill
A suggestion
is doing the rounds to the effect that the Income Tax Bill was not
validly passed by the House of Assembly. It is said that there was
no quorum in place at the relevant time. The quorum for the House
of Assembly was 25 MPs – the figure fixed by section 54 of
the former Constitution.
There is no
merit in the suggestion of invalidity. 68 MPs were recorded as present
when the sitting started at 2.15 pm on the day in question, 25th
June. Even if the number of MPs in the House later dropped below
25, that alone does not invalidate any of the afternoon’s
proceedings because no MP raised a “no quorum” objection.
This lack of objection is the important point, because section 54
of the former Constitution states that it is only if a “no
quorum” objection is taken by an MP in the House that proceedings
will have to be discontinued. [If an objection is taken, section
54 allows MPs a period of 7 minutes, as prescribed in Standing Orders,
to reach the Chamber. During those seven minutes the division bells,
audible throughout Parliament building, are rung to summon MPs,
and it is only thereafter, if a quorum still cannot be assembled,
that the House must adjourn without concluding its business.]
Cabinet
meetings suspended
The President
told Ministers at the Cabinet meeting on 2nd July that there would
be no further Cabinet meetings before the elections. Press stories
then speculated that President Mugabe and the permanent secretaries
of Government Ministries would now be running the Government to
the exclusion of Ministers. Later, an official statement on 8th
July from the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet explained
the situation as follows:
- Cabinet
meetings are temporarily suspended to allow Cabinet members to
concentrated attention on the elections
- Ministers
may be summoned to attend Cabinet meetings in the usual manner
should the need arise.
Comment: Whatever
the factual situation in individual Ministries over the next three
weeks, the legal and constitutional position is as stated in paragraph
15 of Sixth Schedule to the new Constitution:
- the posts
of Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and all Ministers and
Deputy Ministers all continue in existence until the person elected
as President in the coming elections assumes office after the
elections
- the persons
holding these posts on 22nd May remain in them.
It follows that
Ministers retain their powers and functions until the winner of
the coming Presidential election is sworn in as President –
in early August or, if there has to be a run-off election, in mid-September
[the date for the run-off election, if any, is Wednesday 11th September].
Paragraph 15
of the Sixth Schedule to the new Constitution applies “notwithstanding
any provision of the former Constitution” which means that
the President cannot dismiss the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime
Ministers, or any of the Ministers or Deputy Ministers, in reliance
on the former Constitution.
Government
Gazette
[NOT available from Veritas]
Statutory
Instruments
Collective bargaining
agreement SI specifies wages and allowances for workers in the soft
drinks manufacturing industry for the year 2013.
Radiation protection
SI 99/2013 enacts the highly technical Radiation Protection (Naturally
Occurring Radioactive Material) Regulations. A licensing system
is set up for generation, possession, distribution etc of naturally
occurring radioactive material [NORM] “whose radionuclide
concentrations have been increased by or as a result of human practices”.
Radiation protection standards, measures to protect workers, waste
disposal and safety criteria for products are among other matters
covered. The preamble to the regulations recites that they were
made in terms of the Radiation Protection Act, and in consultation
with the Board of the Radiation Protection Authority, by the “Office
of the President and Cabinet”.
[Note: As the
Radiation Protection Act confers regulation-making power on “the
Minister”, meaning a Minister to whom the President has assigned
responsibility for the Act, and as the regulations were not made
by a Minister but by an Office, the regulations may well be invalid.
It is true that the President by SI 162/2012 assigned the Radiation
Protection Act to the “Office of the President and Cabinet”,
but as pointed out in Bill Watch 49/2012 of 22nd October 2012, this
assignment is of doubtful validity and therefore challengeable in
court. Perhaps the next assignment of Acts, under the new Constitution,
will avoid repetition of this error.]
Public service
vehicles SI 100/2013 enacts new fees for the Road Motor Transportation
(Public Service Vehicles) Regulations, replacing fees of 2009.
Collective bargaining
agreement SI 98/2013 sets out minimum wages and allowances for workers
in the Detergents, Edible Oils and Fats industry for 2013, following
an arbitration award.
Local authority
by-laws Kariba Municipality has amended burial fees [SI 102/2013]
and rents, water and supplementary charges in Nyamhunga and Mahombekombe
townships [SI 103/2013].
General
notices
National monuments
GN 354/2013 notifies the declaration by the co-Ministers of Home
Affairs of various sites as national monuments, including the National
Heroes Acre, Sikombela Restriction camp, and several provincial
heroes acres.
Elections notices
These notices are listed below.
Latest
Website Postings
NEW since Bill
Watch 28/2013:
- GN 361/2013**
– Presidential Candidates
- GN 362/2013**
– National Assembly Constituency Candidates
- GN 363/2013**
– Addresses of Constituency Elections Officers
- GN 364/2013**
– Party Lists for National Assembly, Senate and Provincial
Councils
- GN 366/2013**
– Withdrawals of National Assembly Constituency Candidates
- GN 347/2013**
– ZRP Promotions Notice
- Electoral
Act as amended [incorporating amendments made by SI 85/2013]
- MDC-T and
ZANU-PF election manifestos
** Please note
these items are available on the Veritas
website but are not available by email
- Money Laundering
and Proceeds of Crime Act, 2013 (Act No. 4/2013)*
- Electricity
Amendment Bill [passed by Parliament 26th June, not yet gazetted
as an Act]
- Minister
of Justice and Legal Affairs’ application to the Constitutional
Court for a two-week extension of the harmonised elections polling
date
- South African
Constitutional Court judgment in Government of the Republic of
Zimbabwe v Fick & Others [delivered on 27th June. The judgment
dismisses the Government’s appeal against the enforcement
in South Africa of a SADC Tribunal costs award in favour of complainants
in the Campbell case.]
Public
holidays for 2013 [GN 348/2013]
*still available by email if requested from veritas@mango.zw
Other recent
postings:
- SI 85/2013
[regulations amending the Electoral Act]
- SI 86/2013
and SI 96/2013 [Election proclamation and correction]
- SI 88/2013
[Electoral Electoral (Nomination of Candidates) Regulations
- SI 89/3012
[Electoral (Accreditation of Observers) Regulations
- Constitutional
Court order in Mawere v Registrar-General & Others [the dual
citizenship case].
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
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