WATCH LIVE as Gambakwe Media discusses with Senator Khaliphani Phugeni on the seven constitutional ammendments that were passed today.
Please see the final debate in today ‘s senate Hansard today.
SENATE_HANSARD_04_MAY_2021_VOL_30_NO_38In response, the MDC-T issued the following statement.
Good afternoon
Voting has taken place in the Senate, and constitutional amendment number 2 bill has sailed through. On our party, mostly women senators voted for the bill naturally because of the clauses which guarantee women quotas both in parliament an in local government. As the MDC-T we debated vigorously, and fought valiantly to oppose this bill primarily because of the running-mate and the Chief Justice clauses. Whilst we understand how difficult it was for women in the MDC-T to have been conflicted between the age old position of the party and their desire to make gains in the women’s movement, we are disappointed by male senators who may have absconded from the vote without giving any reasons.
As a party we believe that the strength of our democracy is not only in the expression of our diversity through any vote, but moreso the courage to always partake in such polls in order to express our divergent views.
It is however encouraging to note that our party won the debates on merit in both houses, only to lose to a Zanu PF super majority attained at the 2018 elections. With democracy serve albeit in a manner that was not desirable by the party, we urge our members to continue working closely with their public representatives to ensure that future amendments are given due attention in their early stages in the lower house in order to avoid omnibus bills which present a voting dilemma, as noted with the Constitutional Amendment Number 2 Bill.
Witness Dube
MDC-T Secretary for Information and Publicity
