by Taurai Mazwi
It has come to the knowledge of this publication that the Swedish embassy is funding local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to work on disrupting Amendment Bill Number 2 from sailing through.
According to a reliable source within the Legal Resource Foundation (LRF) the directive from the embassy comes after they disbursed funds for the program.
“The Swedish Embassy is funding CSOs to work on programmes that make sure the Amendment Bill does not sail through. The Embassy disbursed exorbitant amounts of money to the LRF on 15 March 2020 so as to activate their programmes in all provinces.
“LRF is now coordinating programs as they have already summarized the proposed amendments which are to be sent to other CSO. The summary is meant to give an understanding to other CSOs on what is to be done. The summary is also being circulated on social media.
Source went on to reveal that LRF programs are supposed to be done before Parliament’s public hearings start in all provinces.
“LRF programs are in preparation of public hearings to be done by the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice Legal and Parliamentary . The amendment’s weakness is its oversight role of Parliament, as it gives a lot of power to President Emmerson Mnangagwa,” he said.
CSOs working with LRF on destabilising the smooth sailing of the Bill are Election Resource Centre (ERC), Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) among others.
LRF and Swedish Embassy failed to influence National Assembly members so their organisation was now vigorously pushing for the referendum.
Amendment Bill Number 2 seeks to introduce at least 27 amendments to the constitution that was adopted in 2013. If passed by Parliament, the running mate clause for vice-presidents will be scrapped and the president will be given powers to appoint judicial officers such as judges and the prosecutor-general.
The proposed amendments will increase the number of ministers without parliamentary seats and limit Parliament’s powers in the adoption of international treaties, among other far-reaching governance issues.
