Publication of the Constitution

The Constitution of Zimbabwe was published on the 22nd May, 2013, as a Schedule to the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act, 2013 (Act No. 1 of 2013).

Commencement of the Constitution

Certain provisions of the Constitution (principally the Declaration of Rights and provisions for presidential and parliamentary elections) came into operation on the 22nd May, 2013, when Act 1 of 2013 was published;  that date was the “publication day” as defined in paragraph 1 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.  The provisions that came into operation then are set out in paragraph 3 of that Schedule.

The rest of the Constitution came into operation on the 22nd August, 2013, when the President was sworn in after the first elections;  this date is the “effective date” as defined in paragraph 1 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.

Amendment of the Constitution

The Constitution has been amended by the following Act—

Important Note Regarding the Amendment

The validity of Act 10 of 2017 was challenged in the Constitutional Court on the ground that the Senate had not passed it by the requisite two-thirds majority.  The Court delivered its judgment on the 31st March [the case was Gonese & Another v Parliament of Zimbabwe & Others CCZ 4/20 and the judgment can be accessed on the Veritas website – link].  The Court agreed that the Bill had not been properly passed and was invalid, but the Court suspended the declaration of invalidity for 180 days to give the Senate an opportunity to pass the Bill in accordance with the Constitution, failing which the declaration would become final.

The Senate had not passed the Bill by the 27th September 2020 when the 180-day period came to an end, but Parliament lodged an application with the Court for the period to be extended.  That application has not yet been heard.