Court papers detail CAA3 challenge as Mwonzora presses referendum argument

Court papers detail CAA3 challenge as Mwonzora presses referendum argument

HARARE — Detailed legal arguments filed by MDC president Douglas Mwonzora in the Constitutional Court on Thursday sharpened the opposition’s case against the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Act, insisting the law is invalid because it alters the right to vote without a national referendum.

In heads of argument lodged with the court, Mwonzora maintained that CAA3 affects provisions in the Bill of Rights and therefore required public approval under section 328 of the Constitution before President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed it into law in July.

“Because it affects the right to vote which is in the Bill of Rights the bill must have been subjected to referendum first,” Mwonzora said in a statement accompanying the filing.

The amendment extends presidential, parliamentary and local government terms from five to seven years and shifts the election of the president from a direct popular vote to a joint sitting of Parliament.

Mwonzora argues these changes strip citizens of a fundamental voting right protected under section 67 and cannot be enacted through parliamentary majorities alone.

The submission marks the latest procedural step in litigation that began after the amendment became law. Mwonzora has previously said the MDC delayed its challenge until after presidential assent to prevent the case being dismissed as premature.

Separate court applications targeting other aspects of CAA3 remain pending. Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku has challenged clauses he says were inserted after the public consultation process.

Government lawyers are expected to respond in due course. No hearing date has been set.

Officials have consistently defended the amendment as properly passed by the required two-thirds majorities in both houses of Parliament.