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Mutare meeting demands an all-inclusive constitution
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
October 11, 2005

"I conclude by saying that each of us must keep faith in the future. Let us not despair. Let us realize that the struggle for justice and freedom.unmoved movers. Never despair, never give up; never feel that the cause of righteousness and justice is doomed."
- Dr. Martin Luther King (2001) - A Call to Conscience pg. 64

The struggle for a people driven constitution scaled new heights today 22 March 2006, when 171 delegates from the width and breadth of Manicaland met in Mutare to deliberate on the uncontestable need for a home grown and all inclusive national constitution. The delegates who included traditional, civic society land churches leaders were unanimously agreed that the current state of national paralysis in every part of the nation's life is the result of an amputated and bleeding constitution. The state in which the government exploits its dubious and fraudulently acquired majority in Parliament to enact laws which suffocate civil liberties and erode economic, social and political growth for the sustenance of a handful privileged ZANU (PF) leaders and their bootlickers is unacceptable, the all stakeholders conference, declared. The message from Manicaland is clear - A demand for an all-inclusive constitution.

The success of the conference can be confirmed by none other than the paranoid police in Mutare who, despite sanctioning the meeting, swooped into the conference room, like vultures, immediately after the meeting at 16:15hrs arresting two of amongst the delegates, Themba from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Makuyana from the NCA Manicaland province. By the time of going to press the police had not pressed any charges but were demanding the minutes from the meeting. They were given the N.C.A draft constitution and a simplified version of the current Zimbabwean constitution. Anorld Tsunga of the Zimbabwe lawyers for human rights is frantically working to get the two patriots out of police custody.

Judging by the actions of the police, the need for a people driven constitution can therefore never be over emphasized. For the police to arrest delegates to a meeting they had sanctioned, in the conference room, is testimony to the absurd fact that the police are listening to the dictates of political party affiliation and ignoring the noble and respectable call of the unbiased professional dispensation of their duties. Citizens, lawfully gathered in a conference room inspired by the suffering of their compatriots and shaping the way to a people's constitution, do not constitute a threat to the country's security. Crisis Coalition condemns such politically motivated arrests by the police. The increase in the number of armed robberies in the country and the resultant insecurity it has triggered clearly points the direction in which the taxpayer's money should be used.

As Crisis Coalition, we hold that government must complement the Zimbabweans striving for a new constitution that will guarantee equal access to the national resources. The road to the new constitution has been bumpy, thorny, crooked, long and winding but the people are determined. Nothing can stop us!

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