Constitutional Circumvention and the Limits of Amendment Power: Reflections on Zimbabwe’s Constitution Amendment No. 3 Bill

Constitutions allocate and limit public power, protect fundamental rights and establish the framework within which governments govern and people hold them accountable. Their legitimacy depends not only on what they say, but also on how they are amended. When constitutional amendments are hurried, clumsily drafted or driven by narrow political interests, it is not only the constitutional text that suffers. The public’s confidence in constitutional governance is also diminished.