Some have said that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision to approve the “Patriotic Bill,” also known as the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill 2022, signals the end of democracy.
It is the most recent in a series of actions taken in advance of this year’s elections, including the outlawing of opposition demonstrations, the use of political violence, and the employment of legal means to oust candidates.
Any Zimbabwean who violates the law by “willfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe” or by attending gatherings where calls for economic sanctions on the nation are made is subject to prosecution.
Some of its provisions are:
- Criminalizing any citizen caught “willfully injuring Zimbabwe’s sovereignty, dignity and independence as a nation”;
- Criminalising those who participate in meetings with the intention to promote, advance, encourage, instigate or advocate sanctions or trade boycotts against the country and;
- The death penalty for those perceived to have conspired to unseat the government, including individuals acting as agents or proxies for such entities.
Legal authorities claimed that the bill’s language was vague, convoluted, and challenging to comprehend.
As a result, it is open to misinterpretation and can be extensively interpreted by law enforcement personnel to suit their purposes.
Civil society groups have been urging the international world for months to tell Zimbabwe’s government not to pass the law that would give the government the power to repress freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.
According to Amnesty International, the decision to restrict people’s rights in advance of the elections on August 23 was deliberate.
It said:
The weaponization of the law is a desperate and patent move to curtail the rights to freedom of expression and to public participation in elections due in August this year.
It was characterized as a law foreshadowing “a full-blown dictatorship run by a regime worse than Robert Mugabe” by the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
However, the administration argued that the measure was necessary to foster national pride and solidarity.
According to Fadzayi Mahere of the CCC, such laws would be overturned if the CCC won the general elections.
“In the new Zimbabwe, unjust laws will be repealed. We will deliver freedom,” she said.
John Dlamini, the leader of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU), claimed that the bill was intended to protect the government from criticism.
“It’s fascist. They don’t want to be scrutinized by the people. They put a law which says, don’t blame Mnangagwa, don’t say there are no jobs in Zimbabwe. That’s wrong,” he said.
Another bill that is awaiting the president’s signature is the Private Voluntary Organizations Amendment (PVO) Bill, which intends to regulate the operations of civil society organizations.
The PVO Bill seeks to stifle dissenting views.
