Zim stops land-grab challenges
- From: "uNkulunkulu" <izulu@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 06:38:05 GMT
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_1762264,00.html
Zim stops land-grab challenges
Harare - Lawmakers endorsed a constitutional overhaul on Tuesday that
sharply restricts property rights and allows Zimbabwe's government to deny
passports to its critics.
Ruling party representatives erupted into cheering, singing and dancing
after rallying 103 votes - more than the two-thirds required to pass the
22-clause Constitutional Amendment Bill.
The number of opposing votes was drowned out in the pandemonium.
The legislation now goes from the 150-member parliament to President Robert
Mugabe to sign into law.
Prominent local and international lawyers have described the amendments as
the greatest challenge yet to civil liberties in this increasingly
autocratic country.
But justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said they would "close the chapter of
colonisation".
Amendments add to 'repressive measures'
The amendment bill, the 17th since independence from Britain in 1980,
abolishes freehold property titles, strips landowners of their right to
appeal against expropriation and allows the government to deny passports if
it is deemed in the national interest.
It also creates a 66-seat senate, which critics claim the ruling party will
use to increase its patronage powers.
Lovemore Madhuku, whose National Constitutional Assembly reform alliance
mobilised opposition to Mugabe's attempt in 2000 to entrench his rule
indefinitely, predicted swift implementation of the new changes.
"I think (Mugabe) is likely to sign the bill into law in the fastest
possible time - even within four days or so," said Madhuku. "He wants to
have elections for the senate by October."
Madhuku said the amendments add to a host of repressive measures already
imposed by Mugabe's government.
"But in time, it will eventually collapse," he said. "Do you think the
people are going to accommodate this for all time?"
MDC to fight bill
There had been concerns within Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) that the party might not mobilise enough
support to pass the legislation after it cleared a preliminary ballot with
just 61 votes to 28.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has 41 seats
in Parliament, and the lone independent legislator, Mugabe's former
propaganda chief Jonathan Moyo, had vowed to fight the bill.
The MDC says approval of the amendments will destroy any hope of agreement
with Western donors for desperately needed aid.
A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was wrapping up a visit
this week to reassess Zimbabwe's economic crisis ahead of a September 9
board meeting which could expel the country for failing to make payments on
$295m in arrears.
The seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution
to black Zimbabweans, combined with years of drought, have crippled the
country's agriculture-based economy.
About four million are in urgent need of food aid in what was once a
regional breadbasket, according to United Nations estimates.
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