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Soldiers force villagers to adopt Kariba draft
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
March 05, 2010

District Coordinators' feedback meeting

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition on the 2nd of March 2010, held a meeting with 27 District Coordinators from Midlands, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central representing 757 wards under the 'CIVIC education for Community Participation in the Constitution Reform Porcess' program who gave feedback on the situation in communities with regards to the Constitution Reform Process. The Coalition is holding meetings in 757 wards in the three provinces to educate communities on the importance of the Constitution. the feedbacks are part of the Coalition's monitoring instruments during the Constitution reform period.

The following issues were raised during the meeting:

Zvimba
It was reported that there is generally limited citizen participation in the Constitution Making Process. The process is highly politicised and controlled by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and ZANU PF. In Zvimba, ZANU PF continues to victimize, harass and intimidate villagers into adopting the controversial Kariba draft as a referral document to be used during the drafting of a new Constitution.

Coordinators noted that there are some areas in which they were unable to penetrate as a result of threats on them by ZANU PF supporters who included one war veteran known as 'Cde Yondo'. It is alleged that Cde Yondo instructed youths to bar civic education by the civil society in the area. All the materials containing messages around the Constitution were banned and those who were behind the dissemination of information to the general populace have received threats of job losses.

Makonde Urban
Villagers in Makonde are facing victimization and forced to surrender minutes if Crisis Coalition ward meetings. Despite the threats, villagers are very curious about the Constitution Making Process as such there is need to conduct several meeting in the area.

Chegutu
In the Chegutu District, members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) are allegedly causing unnecessary disarray by forcing people at the grass root level to adopt the Kariba Draft as the new Constitution.

Makonde Rural
It was noted that there is limited change on the partisan nature of traditional elders as they still have a say on holding of meetings. One such example was the summoning of a headman named Kajewe by Chief Mukwenheri for approving the meetings held in the village.

Kariba Rural
It was reported that ZANU PF supporters including the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe National War Veterans Association, Jabulani Sibanda are acting as ambassadors for the Kariba Draft in rural Kariba ahead of the COPAC outreach programs. Meetings currently being held by ZANU PF are worsening the situation in various provinces as they are used as platforms to encourage victimization of villagers. Members of the police force remain uncooperative by continuously denying coordinators police clearances for their meetings. Rifts within the Inclusive Government have also resulted in increased intolerance.

Kariba Urban
In Kariba Urban, the district coordinator highlighted that police take more than the legal four days to clear meetings. It was further stated that political parties are misguiding people as ZANU PF has already selected party supports to speak on behalf of the people during the out reach meetings.

The coordinator also pointed out that the voice up emblem (footprints) is causing confusion in various wards in Kariba as ZANU PF supporters are saying that it is the MDC's attempt to shift from their palm pictogram to a foot symbol. War veterans are victimizing people as they are marking registers in a bid to verify who attended the meeting and who did not. People are interested in debated around Presidential Terms with ZANU PF supporters advocating for a 90-year age limit.

Bindura
In Bindura, it was noted that both ZANU PF and the MDC are cooperating by attending meetings and contributing views, though conflicting on the aspect of Presidential terms. ZANU PF is of the view that one must rule for countless years as long as people still like him or her, while MDC is advocating for two term limits. Police are cooperating by clearing meetings without any delays. However ZANU PF selected spokespersons that are trained at Mt Darwin youth training camp to speak when the COPAC outreach team holds meetings in the area.

Shamva
In Shamva, the District Coordinator for the area noted that Jabulani Sibanda, emphasized that all the people must rally behind the Kariba Draft as the reference document for the new Constitution because it is allegedly a political part decision.

Kadoma
In Kadoma, the police and members of the Central Intelligence are very cooperative who regularly attend the meetings.

Muzarabani
Victimizations and threats are allegedly still taking place in Muzarabani with ZANU PF supporters barring people from attending meetings and warning the Voice Up t-shirts as they misconstrue that Crisis Coalition is an offspring of the MDC. Police also take several days to clear meetings in the area.

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