Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) COPAC concedes blame for constitutional chaos

COPAC concedes blame for constitutional chaos
04/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

THE Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) has admitted giving drafters incomplete information forcing them to resort to their own personal opinions as criticism of the process increases with several groups dismissing it as a complete failure.

Sections of draft leaked to the media triggered a storm last week with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party accusing the drafters of ignoring what people said during COPAC’s national outreach programme.

The party took particular exception to a clause that seemed to guarantee gay rights with COPAC co chair, Paul Mangwana claiming last month that Zanu PF was withdrawn its support for the drafting process.

But in an interview with the ZBC Tuesday, Mangwana admitted that COPAC had given the drafters -- Justice Moses Chinhengo, Priscilla Madzonga and Brian Crozier – incomplete information forcing them to rely on other sources.

According to a report by the state-run broadcaster, “COPAC gave mixed and incomplete instructions to the drafters who then began drafting the supreme law without using the correct views of the majority”.

Mangwana was said to have confirmed that COPAC “erred in that regard as they gave incomplete instructions while their technical team was still working on some sections of the constitution.”

Meanwhile, both Mangwana and co-chair, Douglas Mwonzora of the MDC-T said drafting of the charter which had been suspended over the festive holiday had now resumed and was expected to be completed on the 19th of January.

"We agreed that they will have to proceed with the drafting from next Tuesday, but we would have given them complete instructions on what they should do," Mangwana told state media.

Mwonzora added: "We are very happy that we are now moving forward and we would want to assure Zimbabweans that we are writing the views as expressed by the people.

"All the documents that are being used are based on the national report, but they will be written in legal language as agreed by the Select Committee.

"We will definitely make the final document available for scrutiny by the people of Zimbabwe, but people must stop treating work in progress as the final draft."
But critics say the process has failed to come up with a people-driven constitution.

Dr Lovemore Madhuku chairperson of the constitutional pressure group, NCA said the coalition government should disband COPAC arguing the process had failed to come up with a constitution that represents the views of all the people.

He said the nation-wide outreach programme had been complete a waste of time if drafters are not getting pointers from what the majority said.

War veterans leader, Jabulani Sibanda also demanded the dissolution of parliament this week to make way for new elections claiming the constitutional reforms had failed.

Writing a new constitution was part a raft of reforms parties to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) agreed to implement before new elections can be held.
Once completed the charter would be put to a referendum, leading to the new elections.

President Robert Mugabe has insisted new elections must be held early this year to replace the coalition government which he argues is now dysfunctional.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, COPAC

posted by MrK @ 6:22 PM