Harare – Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) Member of Parliament for St. Marys, Brighton Mazhindu, has strongly opposed the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill (CAB3), arguing that the proposed changes would undermine the democratic rights of Zimbabweans .

Mazhindu, speaking during the debate, argued that the Bill’s provision to transfer the presidential election from direct popular vote to a parliamentary vote would diminish the legitimacy of the Office of the President.

“Electing the President within the walls of this House risks diminishing the Office of the President. The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe derives legitimacy from the millions of Zimbabwean voters across the country. That mandate cannot be equated to a vote conducted among the Members of Parliament alone,” Mazhindu said .

He noted that in the 2023 elections, the presidential candidate for his party polled more votes than any parliamentary candidate in his constituency, emphasizing the importance of the presidential vote.

“If you take away people’s right to directly elect their president, we would be moving backwards from the democratic principle of one man, one vote,” he added.

Mazhindu also raised concerns about Clause 8 of the Bill, which empowers the President to appoint an additional 10 senators. He argued that Zimbabwe already has a large Parliament relative to its population, citing comparative figures from South Africa and China.

“Zimbabwe has a population of 16.7 million and a Parliament of 360 Members, which translates to roughly 46,000 people per Member of Parliament. South Africa, with a population of 60 million, has approximately one legislator for every 129,000 citizens,” he said.

“Before we contemplate the number of legislators, we must first demonstrate that the current Parliament is operating at maximum efficiency and delivering measurable value to citizens of Zimbabwe who fund it.”

Mazhindu argued that increasing the number of presidential appointees “risks weakening the principle of representative democracy and may create a State that is more accountable to the appointing authority than the citizens of Zimbabwe.”

Mazhindu was however told to stop his debate as his allocated time was up despite raising concerns that he had debated for only close to 6 minutes, including the time he had been interjected.