Human rights and constitutional law expert, Douglas Coltart has said that Statutory Instrument 133 is illegal. Coltart argues that,
One cannot amend an Act of Parliament using subsidiary legislation as President Robert Mugabe purported to do to RBZ Act.
He goes on to cite Section 134 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which deals with Subsidiary Legislation and states that,
Parliament may, in an Act of Parliament, delegate power to make statutory instruments within the scope of and for the purposes laid out in that Act, but–
a. Parliament’s primary law-making power must not be delegated;
b. statutory instruments must not infringe or limit any of the rights and freedoms set out in the Declaration of Rights;
c. statutory instruments must be consistent with the Act of Parliament under which they are made;
d. the Act must specify the limits of the power. the nature and scope of the statutory instrument that may be made, and the principles and standards applicable to the statutory instrument;
e. statutory instruments do not have the force of law unless they have been published in the Gazette; and
f. statutory instruments must be laid before the National Assembly in accordance with its Standing Orders and submitted to the Parliamentary Legal Committee for scrutiny.
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