‘Most came with preconceived ideas’ – Ziyambi attacks MPs opposed to CAB3 as debate ends
JUSTICE, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has sharply criticised legislators opposed to the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill (CAB3), accusing them of fixating on one aspect of the proposed law while ignoring governance challenges the reforms seek to address. Responding to the Second Reading debate in the National Assembly on Wednesday, […] The post ‘Most came with preconceived ideas’ – Ziyambi attacks MPs opposed to CAB3 as debate ends appeared first on NewZimbabwe.com.
Black News 
JUSTICE, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has sharply criticised legislators opposed to the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill (CAB3), accusing them of fixating on one aspect of the proposed law while ignoring governance challenges the reforms seek to address.
Responding to the Second Reading debate in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Ziyambi said many opponents had focused on the proposal to have Parliament elect the President.
“Yet not one of the 30 Members who opposed this Bill in its entirety engaged all five afflictions,” Ziyambi told Parliament.
“Most seized upon one, declared the Bill to be about nothing else and rejected the whole on the strength of that one part.”
CAB3 proposes a raft of constitutional changes, including replacing direct presidential elections with a system in which the President is elected by Parliament, extending the national electoral cycle from five to seven years, restructuring constitutional bodies and making changes affecting traditional leaders.
Ziyambi argued that the Bill seeks to address disputed presidential elections, policy paralysis caused by perpetual electioneering, corruption linked to political instability, the politicisation of the public service and national polarisation.
He further singled out opposition legislator Agency Gumbo, claiming his contribution focused solely on electoral issues.
“Hon. Gumbo, to take an example, built his entire bombastic rejection of the Bill on elections and elections alone,” Ziyambi said.
“As though I had stood on this floor and named dysfunctionally disputed elections as the only affliction bedeviling our country. The other four, he left standing exactly where I placed them, unanswered to this day.”
The remarks drew an objection from opposition MP Daniel Molokele, who accused Ziyambi of attacking individual legislators rather than responding to the substance of their arguments.
“Each Member of Parliament who objected to this Bill, to the extent that he is doing, is definitely unparliamentary and is disrespectful of his Hon. Colleagues,” Molokele said in a point of order.
However, Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda allowed Ziyambi to continue with his response.
The minister also accused some opponents of entering the debate with fixed positions instead of considering the contents of the Bill.
“Some Hon. Members came to debate, if I may so kindly, Mr. Speaker, with preconceived ideas,” he said.
“A preconceived idea is a speech written before the other side has spoken.”
Ziyambi said a record 182 MPs made substantive contributions to the debate, with 111 fully supporting the Bill, 31 supporting it while expressing reservations on certain provisions, 10 raising issues without taking a definitive position and 30 opposing it outright.
“All told, 139 of the 182 were positively disposed towards the Bill,” he said.
The minister further stated that Parliament’s Joint Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs received 540,037 submissions from members of the public, of which 537,102 supported the Bill while 2,935 opposed it.
According to Ziyambi, the figures demonstrate unprecedented public engagement with a constitutional amendment process.
“This Bill, Mr. Speaker, by the parliamentary record itself, is the most debated constitutional amendment in the country’s constitutional history,” he said.
The Bill has since cleared the Committee Stage, although government was forced to make several concessions following intense debate.
Ziyambi withdrew proposed amendments relating to the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, traditional chiefs and the defence forces.
CAB3 now proceeds to the Third Reading stage and a vote in Parliament, where legislators are expected to decide the fate of one of the most controversial constitutional reform proposals in recent years.
The post ‘Most came with preconceived ideas’ – Ziyambi attacks MPs opposed to CAB3 as debate ends appeared first on NewZimbabwe.com.
