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All set for NCA Indaba
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
July 23, 2010

All is now set for the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Indaba this weekend (24 July 2010) to be held at the NCA headquarters. All the provincial chairpersons, National Task Force, Management committee and the secretariat members of the NCA will come together in the capital to discuss ways of strengthening the NCA's roadmap regarding the writing of the country's constitution.

The much-awaited Indaba is coming at a time when the select committee of parliament is currently conducting the public outreach meetings which have been marred by confusion and disturbances from day one. The indaba is part of the NCA's Take Charge Campaign, whose objective is to re-emphasize the need to have a genuine people driven, as opposed to politicians driven constitution making process.

On this ground the "Take Charge Campaign" will continue to expose the fraudulent process currently underway and led by politicians from ZANU PF and MDC. The NCA has consistently and unapologetically reiterated its position that any draft constitution which is a product of a flawed process, as the current COPAC/Kariba process (which is worse than the rejected Chidyausiku make-believe of 1999/2000), will be rejected by the people of Zimbabwe. Since the signing of the Global Political Agreement, the NCA made it very clear that it was opposed to some provisions of Article 6 which clearly spelt out that the role of civic society was "to assist the select committee as may be necessary [Section 6.1(a)(1)]".

It is a sad reality to note how our political leaders have reduced the crafting of a very important document to a political contest. The violence, the confusion and the disorganization in the current process attest to politicians manipulating a constitution making process for political expedients and as NCA we do not believe that a document of such a flawed process can be the people's voice.

The product will without a doubt a compromise deal between the political elites in the MDC and ZANU PF. The NCA will continue to campaign for a more open, inclusive and people driven process that provides an opportunity for other groups and civil society in general to challenge, debate, and influence the process. The NCA believes in the element of adoption of the constitution on a set of basic principles that will govern both the process of constitution making and the substance of the ultimate document.

Lastly we wish delegates to the weekend's indaba fruitful and blessed deliberations

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