News / National
'Draft constitution not 100% perfect,' says Dr Tsvangirai
16 Mar 2013 at 15:46hrs | Views
MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said a new constitution put to a national referendum Saturday can be amended to address reservations raised by groups insisting the country could have come up with a better supreme law.
Tsvangirai told church leaders, at a meeting ahead of Saturday's referendum, that although the draft new charter was not "100% perfect", it was still an important step in an on-going reform process.
Some of the church leaders had expressed concern over provisions relating to abortion in the draft new charter.
"We improve our constitutional governance as we move (on) because we will have gone through that experience. These loopholes that you (church leaders) are pointing out - it's already an experience. What is needed is political will and experience to say this is not 100 percent perfect," he said
"However people constantly through their parliaments through their institutions must constantly subject this constitution (to debate) so that it is relevant to contemporary society.
"This is a very big step, (but) lets subject into to further interrogation. This is where we are clashing with (National Constitutional Assembly leader, Lovemore) Madhuku. We can't throw away the baby with the bath water. This is a good step forward for the country.
"If you want an improvement we will deal with that later. Even (President Robert) Mugabe said if they win (elections later this year) they will change the constitution. l don't know if they want to bring back the 291 issues they wanted (included).
"So, let us submit our Constitution to further discussion; toitazve mamwe maCOPAC outreach meetings vanhu vachiita subject this to further debate.
But Madhuku, whose organisation urged Zimbabweans to reject the new charter, said the fact that the document could be amended was one of its key weaknesses.
"They still provide in the constitution that, except for the Bill of Rights and some provisions on land, the rest of the constitution can be amended by parliament with a two thirds majority like we have currently," Madhuku said in an interview with the UK-based SWRadio Africa.
"So you'll have the problem of continuous amendments of the constitution when it becomes law."
Tsvangirai told church leaders, at a meeting ahead of Saturday's referendum, that although the draft new charter was not "100% perfect", it was still an important step in an on-going reform process.
Some of the church leaders had expressed concern over provisions relating to abortion in the draft new charter.
"We improve our constitutional governance as we move (on) because we will have gone through that experience. These loopholes that you (church leaders) are pointing out - it's already an experience. What is needed is political will and experience to say this is not 100 percent perfect," he said
"However people constantly through their parliaments through their institutions must constantly subject this constitution (to debate) so that it is relevant to contemporary society.
"This is a very big step, (but) lets subject into to further interrogation. This is where we are clashing with (National Constitutional Assembly leader, Lovemore) Madhuku. We can't throw away the baby with the bath water. This is a good step forward for the country.
"If you want an improvement we will deal with that later. Even (President Robert) Mugabe said if they win (elections later this year) they will change the constitution. l don't know if they want to bring back the 291 issues they wanted (included).
"So, let us submit our Constitution to further discussion; toitazve mamwe maCOPAC outreach meetings vanhu vachiita subject this to further debate.
But Madhuku, whose organisation urged Zimbabweans to reject the new charter, said the fact that the document could be amended was one of its key weaknesses.
"They still provide in the constitution that, except for the Bill of Rights and some provisions on land, the rest of the constitution can be amended by parliament with a two thirds majority like we have currently," Madhuku said in an interview with the UK-based SWRadio Africa.
"So you'll have the problem of continuous amendments of the constitution when it becomes law."
Source - news
