Update on Parliamentary Business from 27th to 29th July: Bill Watch 57/2021 – Kubatana net kubatana.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kubatana.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Bulawayo Correspondent
PARTICIPANTS at a Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Bill public hearing in Bulawayo Tuesday called on authorities to spare the quasi-state institutions the involvement of personnel with security sector background amid concerns this compromised the independence of the commissions.
The joint Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Defence and Home Affairs is conducting public hearings across the country to solicit for public views on the new Bill whose objective is to provide for the establishment of an independent complaints mechanism for members of the public against members of security services in line with Section 210 of the Constitution.
Unpacking the Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Bill
“An Act of Parliament must provide an
effective and
misconduct on the part of
members of the security services, and for
remedying any harm caused by such misconduct.”
The government was very reluctant to give life to this Constitutional provision. As a result, Veritas in 2015 took the government to the Constitutional Court for an order calling on the Government to enact legislation implementing section 210. On the 23rd September 2020 the Constitutional Court finally gave judgment in the case, giving the Government 45 days in which to gazette the requisite Bill. The Government did not meet that deadline, but on 27 November 2020 Bill H.B.5, 2020 titled Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Bill was gazetted.