A Question of Access and Inclusivity
ZimRights Press Statement on Public Hearings on Constitutional Amendment Bill
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) has reviewed the proposed venues for the public hearings on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill (No. 3), scheduled for 30 March to 2 April 2026. While the listing of locations across all ten provinces suggests an effort to take the process to the people, we are concerned that the structure of these hearings may not allow for meaningful participation by all Zimbabweans.
In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city with a population exceeding half a million people, only one venue City Hall has been designated. This single location must serve residents across the city’s high-density suburbs including Nkulumane, Emakhandeni, Pumula, and Luveve, as well as surrounding peri-urban areas. For many residents, travelling to the city centre requires transport fares that may simply be out of reach. Those who make the journey will likely face long queues and limited speaking time, effectively silencing the majority.
Harare Province fares only slightly better with three venues, Chitungwiza Aquatic Centre, Epworth Local Board, and Harare City Centre. These three locations must serve a metropolitan area of over two million people. Chitungwiza and Epworth are dormitory towns where residents already struggle with transport costs. A single venue in Harare city centre does little to serve residents of outlying suburbs such as Kuwadzana, Glen View, Hatcliffe, or Tafara.
In rural areas, the challenge is not simply the number of venues but their location relative to where people live. The Constitution requires that public participation be accessible to all citizens, yet many designated venues are located at business centres or growth points that require travel of 20 kilometres or more for families in surrounding villages.
In Mashonaland Central, the hearing at Mushumbi Pools Business Centre must serve the vast Mbire district. In Manicaland, residents of Chimanimani’s mountainous terrain must reach Chakohwa Secondary School, a journey that for many involves walking for long hours.
The reality for a family in a rural village is finding transport that may not exist, and leaving children unattended. These are not minor inconveniences; they are barriers that effectively exclude entire communities from participating in the amendment of their Constitution.
In addition to accessibility constraints, there are also concerns of fair participation. ZimRights has documented serious access issues in the past specifically with the 2024 public hearings on the Private Voluntary Organizations Amendment Bill. In many venues, citizens who made the effort to attend found proceedings disrupted by organised groups who dominated speaking slots, leaving ordinary citizens unable to contribute. In Gweru, the hearing was abandoned entirely when rowdy youths disrupted proceedings with singing, causing the parliamentary committee to flee the venue.
Without safeguards to ensure fair participation, there is a real risk that the same patterns will be repeated. Citizens who travel long distances only to find themselves unable to speak, or who sit through hours of disruption before proceedings collapse, will rightly question whether their participation was ever intended to matter.
A comparison of venue allocation raises further questions. Mashonaland West Province has seven listed venues spread across its districts. Matabeleland North has seven. Masvingo has seven. Yet Bulawayo, with its dense urban population, has one.
Section 141 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides for public access to and involvement in Parliament. Public participation must be genuine, not merely symbolic. This means ensuring that citizens are not only invited but are able to attend, to speak, and to be heard in conditions that respect their dignity.
When the structure of hearings makes participation impossible for large sections of the population, the process fails to meet this constitutional standard.
ZimRights Calls For:
- Additional venues in Bulawayo and Harare to reflect population density, including
locations in high-density suburbs. - Safeguards to prevent organised disruption of proceedings and to ensure ordinary citizens have opportunity to speak.
The Constitution belongs to all Zimbabweans. Amending it requires more than a schedule of venues, it requires a genuine commitment to hearing the voices of those who live under it. Without that commitment, public hearings become empty ritual, and the amendments they produce will carry a legitimacy that no piece of paper can confer.
Issued by ZimRights Information Department
