China deals not binding until approved by Parliament

The nine deals that President Robert Mugabe and Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa signed in China will not be binding until they are approved by Parliament according to the new constitution, Veritas says in its latest report.

But this should be plain sailing as the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front controls nearly three quarters of the seats in the House of Assembly and similar deals have been bulldozed through in the past.

Though the party is currently embroiled in faction fighting as it heads for the elective December congress, ZANU-PF members have a record of incessantly fighting among themselves like a troop of baboons only to gang up when they see a common enemy.

Veritas reports that Section 327(3) of the Constitution provides as follows:

“(3) An agreement which is not an international treaty but which—

(a) has been concluded or executed by the President or under the President’s authority with one or more foreign organisations or entities; and

(b) imposes fiscal obligations on Zimbabwe;

does not bind Zimbabwe until it has been approved by Parliament.”

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