With Mike Murenzvi
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” ~ Thomas Sowell
On Tuesday, 9 July 2024, the Senate debated and passed the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill H.B. 4A, 2024. Following that passing, the Bill was returned to the National Assembly on the same day for certification and transmission to the President as required by the Constitution.
It has been more than a month, and still there is no Act of Parliament bringing this into effect.
Bill procedure and delay
The Constitution, in section 131 and the Fifth Schedule, lays out the procedure to be followed from inception to presidential assent to a Bill.
Section 131 (5) states that:
(5) After a Bill has been passed by both Houses in accordance with the Fifth Schedule, the President of the Senate or the Speaker, as the case may be, must without delay—
(a) cause it to be presented to the President for assent and signature, together with any certificate which is required by this Constitution to accompany the Bill; and
(b) give public notice of the date on which the Bill was sent to the President.
The term, “without delay”, in the section above is very instructive. In ordinary speech, it is synonymous with immediately, or right away. In legal terms, it means without any undue delay, or once all normal processes that must happen to give it effect have been done, but still with urgency.
Once a Bill has been passed, the normal process is to send it to Printflow, where the Act to be sent to the President for signing is printed. That final document must be reviewed and approved by the Speaker as the true record of the final will of Parliament based on all approved amendments made to the original Bill. In this case, the only amendments were made by the National Assembly, meaning that the version that was approved by the Senate was already in final form.
The Parliament Bill Status Report as at 25 July 2024 reported that the Act proof was sent to Prinflow on 15 July 2024. No other update exists as Parliament adjourned on the 25th of July to 20 August and subsequently 3 September for its next sitting.
No notice has been published in the Government Gazette stating the date on which the Bill was sent to the President.
It has been more than a month since the Bill was sent for printing, and no effort appears to have been made to expedite its transmission to the President. By any standard, this constitutes an undue delay and a betrayal of the Speaker’s duty to the Constitution and to the people of Zimbabwe.
What are the President’s timelines?
From the time the President receives the Bill for assent, he has 21 days to consider it and either assent to it or send it back to Parliament with his reservations against it.
Section 131 (6) of the Constitution states that:
(6) When a Bill is presented to the President for assent and signature, he or she must, within twenty-one days, either—
(a) assent to it and sign it, and then cause it to be published in Gazette without delay; or
(b) if he or she considers it to be unconstitutional or has any other reservations about it, refer the Bill back to Parliament through the Clerk of Parliament, together with detailed written reasons for those reservations and a request that the Bill be reconsidered.
Clearly, we have not reached this stage, though it is extremely important and beneficial to reach assent as soon as possible.
Cry the children of Zimbabwe, unprotected by the law
At every turn, the children have been neglected. Forgotten and lost in bureaucratic processes that divorce them from the proceedings. Rights groups that should be making noise and championing this cause are silent. Mainstream media, whose duty it is to hold a mirror to society, is silent. The children are on their own.
There is no law
From 11 July 2024, until this Bill is assented to by the President, there is no law.
There is no law protecting children from adults who would exploit them for sexual intercourse or performing indecent acts with children between the ages of 12 and 18.
There is no law protecting anyone, child and adult alike, from enablers who would be complicit in sexual crimes.
There is no law protecting anyone, child and adult alike, from those who would procure them for sexual exploitation, be it prostitution or sex trafficking.
There is no law criminalising anyone who knowingly allows their premises to be used for unlawful sexual conduct with children over the age of twelve years.
There is no law.
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Mike Murenzvi writes in his personal capacity and his views are not associated with any organisation he is, or may be, affiliated with.
