HARARE – Parliament resumed sitting last week, with the first order of business being a preliminary reading of the draconian Public Order and Security Act (Posa) Amendment Bill, which seeks to limit the extensive powers wielded by police in stamping out political gatherings and meetings.

The amendments to Posa were moved as a private member’s Bill by the MDC chief whip and Mutare Central MP, Hon. Innocent Gonese last year. The proposed amendments seek to revise the legislation that has been used for years by the Zanu PF regime to repress the people of Zimbabwe.

Following the first reading last week,the bill was referred to the Parliament's committee on legal affairs, which was before sending them for a second reading with its recommendations. If it passes through Parliament the amendments would bring in wideranging changes to the current Act. The proposed Posa changes would limit the power of the police to bar political gatherings and public meetings. However, some Zanu PF officials are attempting to block the amendments to the Act.

Home Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary, Melusi Matshiya, told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and Defence that the proposed amendments would "water down" police powers and undermine the effectiveness of the national force.

“It waters down the powers of the police and renders operations ineffective,” said Matshiya. Senior police commissioner, Solomon Mubatapasango said some of the proposed changes would pose a risk to national security. “What are we afraid of in giving notice of public meetings? If we don't criminalize it we are playing around with the security of the state.”

Under amendments proposed by Clause 6 of the Bill, the powers to prohibit a public gathering will no longer be vested in the police but the magistrates’ courts, and a court order would be required to stop such meetings. While introducing the motion last year, Hon. Gonese who has several times failed to meet his constituents in Mutare Central because of Posa, said the reason why he was seeking changes to Posa was because of the abuse of the Act by the police.

 “The problem we have in Zimbabwe is that the police have applied, misinterpreted and misplaced provisions of the police in that regard,” said Hon. Gonese. The Bill also seeks to ensure that public gatherings are regulated in a manner that will allow Zimbabweans to fully exercise their fundamental democratic right to engage and to express themselves through the medium of peaceful assembly and association.