"Let me say from the outset that Chinamasa is not the spokesman for the principals," Tamborinyoka told The Zimbabwean. "There are no such negotiations among the principals about POSA. POSA will remainvery much alive through the platform of Parliament in this session."
Chinamasa caused a premature end to debate on the POSA Amendment Bill in the Senate on August 3 when he told legislators that the matter was being negotiated at a political level as part of the GPA. The heated debate saw Zanu (PF) senators try to scupper the proposed amendments, which would significantly curtail the partisan police's powers of arrest, detention and disruption of public meetings.
At first some Zanu (PF) senators claimed they had not been given time to study the Bill, which sailed through the lower House of Assembly with the approval of both MDCs and Zanu (PF) MPs. However, the MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese pointed out that copies of the Amendment Bill had been deposited in the pigeon holes of all senators more than a year ago.
Other Zanu (PF) senators claimed they did not see the importance of the Bill as there was no security problem in Zimbabwe. Gonese, however, gave statistics and details of abuse of the present legislation, especially by the police. He showed that despite making arrests using POSA, the police had failed to make any significant convictions, showing that the law was defective and was being selectively applied to punish opponents of President Robert Mugabe and his party.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said Chinamasa's move was meant to ensure that the Amendment Bill lapsed at the end of the last session of Parliament.
Gonese, who sponsored the amendments as a private member's bill said he was not withdrawing the proposed legislation despite opposition to it.
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