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ZANU PF not committed to genuine people-driven constitution-making process
Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ)
June 18, 2009

The communiqué issued by the ZANU PF politburo in Harare yesterday is a mockery to the democratic process of constitution-making and shows that the former ruling party is not prepared to embrace a people-driven Constitution-making process. The ZANU PF politburo's endorsement of the Kariba Draft Constitution as a reference document seeks to marginalize the citizens from participating in national issues of governance. Constitution- making cannot be left to the politicians alone. The Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (C.C.D.Z) working with other Civil Society Organizations demands an all-inclusive and broad process of coming up with a new democratic Constitution for the country.

The Constitution-making process that the Parliament of Zimbabwe has embarked on suffers a legitimacy crisis if it is allowed to be abused by self-serving politicians who want to frustrate the process and maintain the status quo. If the Parliament of Zimbabwe is well-intentioned and would like to restore public confidence in the Constitution-making process, it must immediately do the following:

1. Reprimand the ZANU PF politburo for making inflammatory statements that are meant to unravel the Constitution-making process.
2. That the Parliamentary Select Committee makes a clear statement that the views expressed by the people will be taken seriously throughout the process of Constitution-making. There is fear now that the Provincial and District outreach programmes being conducted by the Parliamentary Select Committee are for academic purposes and that the parties in the inclusive government are half-hearted on facilitating a people-driven process.
3. That the parties to the Inclusive government, namely ZANU PF and the two MDC formations recommit to the people of Zimbabwe about the urgency and unavoidability of a people-driven Constitution-making process. President Robert Mugabe (ZANU PF), Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Guseni Mutambara (MDC-M) must state categorically that their parties shall not suppress the voices from below on the Constitution-making process.
4. That the Parliamentary Select Committee will not use the Kariba Draft Constitution because the people of Zimbabwe did not participate in its authorship. The Parties in the Inclusive government must not push the Kariba Draft down people's throats because the people can still write their own Constitution. Any attempt by the present ZANU PF and MDC government to force the Kariba Draft on the people is retrogressive and undemocratic.

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