JURIST - Paper Chase: Zimbabwe legislators approve controversial constitutional reforms

[JURIST] Zimbabwe's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms that opposition lawmakers and many observers claimed would drastically reduce the rights [JURIST report] of the country's citizens. The legislation, approved 103-29 in a legislature dominated by the Zanu PF party [official website], the party of President Robert Mugabe [Wikipedia profile], halts legal challenges by white farmers to government land seizures, limits travel rights for those deemed anti-government, and strips those without full citizenship of voting rights. The changes to the constitution [text] also create a second parliamentary house, a move viewed by many as an attempt to further solidify Zanu PF's dominance. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the legislation was the final installment of Mugabe's fight to reverse the effects of British colonial rule that ended in 1980. The government began in 2000 to seize land from white farmers for redistribution among blacks without property. AFP has more.

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