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Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
Government is set to start issuing vernacular copies of the Constitution by mid-year following the standardisation of the translation process, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Mrs Viginia Mabhiza has said.

Speaking during the National Constitution Translation Standardisation exercise in Gweru recently, Mrs Mabhiza said the exercise and the translation of the Constitution into 16 local languages was part of the Ministry’s 100-day plan.

The Constitution is being translated into Ndebele, Shona, Sotho, Venda, Tonga, Nambya, Chibarwe, English, Koisan, Ndau, Shangani, Sign Language, Tswana, Chewa and Kalanga. Mrs Mabhiza said Government expected to produce the first copies of the translated Constitution by mid-year.

“The completion of the translation exercise is part of our 100-day plan as the ministry,” she said. “We are expecting that by mid-year, we would have produced the first copies of the Constitution translated into vernacular languages.

“We are now standardising the translation process and the content of the Constitution.”

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi reiterated that there was need for a full implementation of the exercise to enable protection and promotion of citizens’ civil, political, social, economic and environmental rights.

Addressing the National Constitution Translation Committee and translators at Midlands State University, Minister Ziyambi said full implementation would sensitise people about their rights as enshrined in the Constitution.

“Significant aspects of the Constitution include among other things, Bill of Rights that seeks to protect and promote citizens’ civil, political, social, economic and environmental rights,” he said. “It also introduces national values and entrenches our people’s rights to land and ownership of our natural resources, education and empowerment of young people.

“In order for these gains to be translated into reality, they need to be implemented. Full implementation requires the citizens to be sensitised about not only the Constitution, but their rights as enshrined in the Constitution.

“In order for this exercise to fully yield results, in achieving access to justice, this process can only be fully achieved where the owners of the Constitution, the citizens, are fully aware of what their rights are and how they can be implemented. This noble initiative of translating the Constitution is perfectly in line with this view point of constitutional implantation.

“Let me also emphasise that the translation of the Constitution into four of the languages, namely Ndebele, Shona, Kalanga and Tonga is part of the ministry’s 100-day plan, hence the need to expedite the process.”