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This article participates on the following special index pages:
New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
Marauding ZANU PF supporters harass observers as COPAC suspends
constitutional outreach meetings
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
September 20, 2010
In two separate
incidents, alleged ZANU PF supporters gathered at the Queen Elizabeth
School in Harare for a pseudo constitutional outreach meeting today,
20 September 2010, harassed and ejected six COPAC accredited observers
from Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and the diplomatic community.
The perpetrators
alleged that COPAC had no observers and repeated the ZANU PF mantra
of Western interference as an excuse to eject the observers and
some non-black people at the meeting. The two incidents occurred
within 30 minutes of each other as the 6 attempted to observe the
meeting and seek clarity on why the teams were continuing with the
meeting despite an earlier communication from COPAC suspending all
outreach meetings.
The meeting,
which was attended by a group of close to a hundred elderly people
who simply referred to their places of residence as 'Ward
13', was presided over by ZANU PF COPAC team members led by
Dr. David Parirenyatwa, and had one rapporteur as opposed to the
stipulated three. The group hurled insults at the observers arguing
that COPAC had no observers and accused the team of being 'sell
outs'. Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) who were
present at the meeting stood arms akimbo as the crowd threatened
to beat up the observers. Questioned on why the police were not
reacting, one of the team members highlighted that the police are
there to stop violence and not to reign in errant participants.
Despite the
continued convening of outreach meetings by ZANU PF representatives
in COPAC, sources from the select committee including co-Chairpersons,
Hon. Paul Mangwana and Hon. Douglas Mwonzora have highlighted that
all outreach meetings are suspended indefinitely owing to the violence
which punctuated weekend meetings. Hon. Mwonzora told The Convenor
that the meetings held by the ZANU PF teams are illegitimate as
other political parties are not represented.
The management
committee of the constitution making process is expected to meet
later to discuss the way forward in light of the weekend violence.
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in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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