Zimbabwe: CAB3 Treats Constitution As 'Reservoir of Advantages' for Ruling Elite - Says Prominent Lawyer

PROMINENT constitutional lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu has sharply criticised the Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 currently before Parliament, saying it inverts the relationship between citizens and the State.

Writing on his X handle, Mpofu argued that the Constitution is "not a text held at the disposal of those who happen, for the time being, to occupy office." Instead, he said, it is "the normative architecture of our democratic order" that defines what citizens are entitled to expect from the state, not from "temporary holders of State power."

"Any claim by temporary office-holders to possess dominion over the Constitution, or to treat it as an instrument subject to their will, is constitutionally impermissible," Mpofu wrote.

He stressed that public officials do not stand above the Constitution and cannot convert it "into a mechanism for the consolidation of authority."

Mpofu said the "constitutional difficulty with CAB3 lies precisely in this inversion." The Bill, he argued, "displaces the primacy of the governed and recasts the Constitution from a charter of public accountability into a reservoir of advantages to be harvested by those in temporary office."

The proposed amendment has drawn criticism from opposition Members of Parliament, including Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator for Hatcliffe Hon. Agency Gumbo, who said it strips voters of the right to directly elect the President. CAB3 makes changes to presidential succession, judicial appointments, and parliamentary oversight of military deployments, among other provisions.

Mpofu warned that the Bill "distorts the constitutional order" by transforming a system meant to secure public expectations "into one that privileges the immediate interests of transient rulers."

"In constitutional jurisprudence, that inversion cannot be sustained. A Constitution is not the possession of power; it is its restraint," he wrote, ending his post with: "See it the right way!"

Parliament is continuing debate on the Bill, with voting expected soon before it is taken to the Senate for consideration.

Civil society groups are calling for a referendum saying amendments that alter the social contract require national consensus while Zanu PF insists there is no need for such a litmus test.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.