Maravi

(HERALD) War vets speak on new constitution

War vets speak on new constitution
Saturday, 07 January 2012 20:54
Sunday Mail Reporter

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) has called on the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) to stop the ongoing drafting of the supreme law of the country, saying the process has been marred by chaos and disregarded the views of the public.

This comes as Copac members and drafters converged on Manicaland for the final phase of the drafting process which is due to be completed on January 19.
In a statement yesterday, ZNLWVA chairman Cde Jabulani Sibanda said the drafting had gone against the views of the people.

“It has become abundantly clear that Copac is not drafting or causing the drafting of the new constitution in accordance with the views of the people,” he said.
Cde Sibanda said the three Copac co-chairpersons had given conflicting statements on the matter, thereby clearly showing discrepancies.

“Honourable (Munyaradzi) Paul Mangwana says the National Report published in the Herald of 23 December is correct and reflects the views of the people of Zimbabwe.
“. . . He even goes on to refer to the National Report as the National Statistical Report which is in two versions.

“According to Mwonzora, the National Report becomes complete if it includes views from the Diaspora, views from Zimbabwean institutions, views from people living with disabilities as well as views from children.
“Hon Mkhosi says the report is correct but is meaningless without a narrative. Simply put, the co-chairs of Copac are giving conflicting stories on the issue of the National Report and how the views of the people were captured and recorded,” he said.

Cde Sibanda accused the Copac co-chairpersons of tampering with public opinion and challenged them to “produce a National Report whether in one version or two including the narratives”.
Cde Sibanda accused Copac of fraud.

“Our position is that a reading of the first four chapters, so far drafted, proves beyond doubt that Copac has betrayed the views of the people and may, in fact, be committing fraud by purporting to be drafting or causing the drafting of the new constitution being guided by the views of the people when in truth and in fact it is not doing so,” he said.

“. . . The drafters wrote that ‘the new constitution cannot solve the land issue in Zimbabwe. It can, however, provide a mechanism — we suggest a Land Tenure Act.’
“In our constitution, we cannot subscribe to the Land Tenure Act being proposed by drafters . . . We fought to remove the colonial regime.
“We fought imperialism. We fought nepotism. We fought to repossess the land. No more Land Tenure Acts. The constitution must deal with the land issue,” he said.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, JABULANI SIBANDA, WAR VETERANS

posted by MrK @ 6:59 PM