Parliament To Fast Track Age Of Consent And PVO Bills
Parliament has resolved to fast-track the revised Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Protection of Children and Young Persons Amendment Bill, as well as the Administration of Estates Amendment Bill.
As reported by The Herald, the three Bills were tabled before the National Assembly last week and went through their First Reading.
The PVO Amendment Bill, which among other things aims to regulate the registration and operation of PVOs more strictly, was brought back before Parliament for further consideration after President Emmerson Mnangagwa raised reservations about certain aspects of the bill.
The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill seeks to raise the age of sexual consent from 16 to 18 after President Mnangagwa invoked his powers under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act to gazette Statutory Instrument 2 of 2024, in compliance with a Constitutional Court ruling that had declared a section of the law that sets the age of sexual consent at 16 as unconstitutional.
The Administration of Estates Amendment Bill seeks to provide for the better and autonomous administration of the Office of the Master of the High Court.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi requested the suspension of procedural requirements related to the period of tabling a Bill, saying it was important to have the proposed laws dealt with expeditiously. He said:
I seek leave of the House to move that the provisions of Standing Order, Number 142 (1) which states that every Bill other than a constitutional Bill must be published in the Gazette 14 days before it is introduced in the National Assembly in respect of the following Bills:- Private Voluntary Organisations Bill, Administration of Estates Amendment Bill and Criminal Laws, that is Protection of Children and Young Persons Bill…
There are about two or three reasons why I am seeking leave to have the House suspend this provision so that we can bring the Bills.
The first one, the Private Voluntary Organisations Bill was before the August House and there are minor amendments. So, I am seeking that it comes because it was before the House before the expiration of the last Parliament.
The Administration of the Estates Amendment Bill deals with the office of the Master. There are a lot of issues that are urgent and we need this House to consider that Bill as well as the Criminal Laws Amendment.
There is a gap in using the Presidential powers . . . So, I am moving that we reduce the days the Bills have been gazetted, we bring them for First Reading and then Parliament can start interrogating the Bills.
After a debate on the issue, the National Assembly eventually agreed to fast-track the Bills before they were introduced in the House.
All three Bills were referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee, a committee of Parliament which scrutinises all Bills and Statutory Instruments to determine if they are consistent with the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
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