Financial Gazette (Harare)
Clemence Manyukwe
13 November 2009
Harare — IN a landmark development for Zimbabwe, Parliament has started debating amendments to the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA) through a Private Member's Bill to clip the wings of the police force which stands accused of stifling citizens' rights to freedom of assembly and association.
POSA replaced the Law and Order Maintenance Act used by the colonial Rhodesian government to victimise freedom fighters.
While POSA was amended in 2007, five years after being introduced in 2002, human rights defenders still maintain that the law has largely remained repressive.
The fresh amendments come almost two decades after another bid to introduce a Private Member's Bill which would have reduced President Robert Mugabe's powers by the then ZANU-PF members, Michael Mataure and Margaret Dongo, was crushed by ZANU-PF loyalists, leading to a purge that saw some disgruntled members of the party either leaving to stand as independents or joining opposition parties.
There are two ways in which proposed legislation can be brought to the country's Parliament: Either through a Public Bill, which comes from the executive and is introduced by a government minister or through a Private Member's Bill, which is brought by private citizens including any Member of Parliament not serving in government.
In a motion to introduce the Bill last Thursday, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) Mutare Central legislator, Innocent Gonese, said the introduction of the POSA amendments was in line with Article 12 of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which the three principals committed themselves to observing freedom of assembly and freedom of association.
The GPA was signed by President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara in September last year to end political tensions that had emerged after last year's synchronised elections failed to produce a clear presidential winner.
Ironically, one of the candidates in the presidential race, Simba Makoni, is currently on trial for violating POSA after addressing a political meeting in Mashonaland Central without police clearance.
The House of Assembly, where the MDC-T commands a slim majority, is seen adopting the motion in order to curtail the powers vested in the police.
This would then pave the way for the tabling of the Bill, which analysts say exposes the MDC-T's lack of confidence in the current arrangement whereby one of its senior officials, Giles Mutsekwa is Co-Minister of Home Affairs along with ZANU-PF's Kembo Mohadi.
Gonese, the mainstream MDC-T's secretary for justice, legal and parliamentary affairs, said the thrust of the amendments would be to whittle down the powers of the police whom he said where abusing the current Act.
"The reason why I am bringing this motion is because of the abuse of the Public Order and Security Act by the police. The problem we have in Zimbabwe is that the police have applied, misinterpreted and misplaced provisions of the law . . . the intention of the Bill, which I will bring to this august House, is to limit the powers of the police in that regard," said Gonese.
Supporting his argument that the police had abused POSA, Gonese said in 2003, 822 human rights defenders were arrested for violating the security law, with 155 others being nabbed the following year, but none were successfully prosecuted.
The lawmaker said in 2005, 547 people were arrested under the law, with the figure rising to 577 in 2006 before reaching an all-time high of 1 927 in 2007, but again no one was successfully prosecuted.
"So they were arrested, incarcerated, stayed in filthy cells and in most cases, the police would oppose bail," Gonese said.
The lawmaker said the amendments will, among others, bring changes to clause 2 of the Act that deals with the definition of public gathering or demonstrations that are likely to cause public disorder.
He added that he would insert into clause 3 of the current Act a paragraph which reads: "All Zimbabweans, immaterial of party, political affiliation or persuasion have a constitutional right to express themselves by engaging in peaceful assembly and association."
He added that it will seek to ensure that public gatherings are only prohibited by a magistrate and not the police.
Gonese said the amendment will also seek to reduce the notification of public gatherings by organisers from seven days to three.
In January last year, the government fast tracked through Parliament other amendments to POSA, which analysts said had done little to shed the draconian nature of the law, as a result of the Southern African Development Community brokered talks that ultimately gave birth to the inclusive government in February this year.
One of the changes that were made at that time states that those intending to organise public meetings or rallies must appeal to a magistrate, instead of the Home Affairs Minister as was the case previously, when the police prohibited gatherings.
The other amendment made it mandatory for the police to give notice of cancellation to organisers if they suspected that law and order would be compromised even if permission was granted.
The police have in the past cancelled several MDC-T rallies citing either lack of manpower or that they suspect there would be chaos.
And when they did grant the holding of rallies, there would be heavy police presence, armed to the teeth, a move the MDC-T leaders said was tantamount to harassment or provocation.
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