President Robert Mugabe's ruling party pushed through changes to Zimbabwe's constitution on Tuesday, alterations that critics say further entrenches his rule.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party used its two-thirds parliamentary majority to approve changes that will allow the government to nationalize white-owned farms, impose travel bans on "traitors" and reintroduce a second legislative chamber (Senate) that critics say will be packed with Mugabe's allies.
ZANU-PF argues the changes will enable the government to conclude its controversial land reform program to redistribute land from white farmers to the black majority, while a Senate will improve the quality of legislation.
"Today is a happy moment," Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said on state radio after the vote. "This gives us an opportunity as Zimbabweans to be the true owners of the land and to be truly independent."
ZANU-PF mustered 103 votes for the amendments, with 29 parliamentarians voting "No" to the 17th set of changes to the constitution since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain.
‘A dark day for Zimbabwean democracy’
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) provided 28 of the 29 votes against the bill and issued a statement saying it was "a dark day for Zimbabwean democracy."
"The new constitution represents a serious assault on citizens' basic rights and freedoms," MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said.
ZANU-PF MP's broke into song and dance after the vote, while angry opposition legislators stalked out of the chamber.
"This is a disastrous amendment bill," said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, which advocates a "people driven" overhaul of the constitution.
"It has no other intention except to keep this government in power," Madhuku said.
The amendments on land seizures will effectively bar white farmers from using the courts to challenge the seizure of their property under Mugabe's land reform program, which economists say has ruined a once-thriving agricultural sector.
The amendments will also give the government new tools against political opponents, allowing it to impose travel bans on Zimbabweans suspected of engaging in terrorist training abroad or who have called for sanctions or military actions against Mugabe's government.
Mugabe has repeatedly accused his domestic opponents of being in league with former colonial power Britain and hinted that his government might be a target for "regime change" by its western critics.
Threat to indict Mugabe
The constitutional change in Zimbabwe came as Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia and New Zealand would lobby the U.N. Security Council to indict Mugabe and his
government in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity — although he conceded such a resolution would be difficult to push through the world body.
The MDC, supported by several Western countries in its charges that ZANU-PF rigged the March polls that produced its two-thirds majority, has advocated its own set of constitutional changes limiting presidents to two terms in office and creating an "independent" electoral body. Mugabe is serving his fourth term as president.
"We will continue to work with civil society for a new constitution. We need a constitution that is wholly owned by the people of Zimbabwe, not this one," MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese said on Tuesday.
The government's document, which Mugabe needs to approve within 21 days, would set up a new Senate of 65 members, of which 50 would be elected, the rest going to traditional chiefs and presidential appointees.
