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New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
Report
on the NSAF-MPOI Bulawayo Public Seminar on Zimbabwe Constitution
reform: from process to output
Mass Public
Opinion Institute (MPOI)
October 28, 2010
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Overview
of presentations
Hon.
Gladys Dube, MDC-T Senator, COPAC
Honourable Gladys
Dube is the MDC-T Senate Chief Whip and Deputy Co-Chair of COPAC.
She was selected as the main speaker for the seminar in order to
award the public an opportunity to interact with a senior member
of COPAC, the body that is central to the constitution-making
process in Zimbabwe. The Senator did justice in as far as updating
the participants of the progress, constraints and perceived outcome
of the highly controversial constitutional outreach process. The
Senator began by giving an overview of COPAC, citing its mandate
and objectives. A detailed update on the present phase of the national
constitution making process; the constitution outreach was satisfactorily
articulated. It was highlighted that the COPAC had registered significant
success as so far the ‘All stakeholders’ conference’
was held, 17 thematic areas were agreed upon and currently the consultation
phase was in progress to gather and collate views of Zimbabweans
on the constitution.
Assessment
of Constitution making process – COPAC perspective
The constitutional
outreach happened in an environment of mistrust spanning from the
fragility of the Global political agreement. The presence of a management
body to oversee the activities of COPAC, coupled with the militarisation
of the process and selective application of the law, created inevitable
structural weaknesses within the constitution making framework.
Some internal
capacity gaps and environmental constraints were cited as negative
influence on the constitution making process which was likely to
impact negatively on its outcome as well. Some of the factors highlighted
included the following:
- Politically
motivated disturbances that marred the Harare outreach process
meant that additional resources (funds and time) were required
for COPAC to reconvene the meetings.
- COPAC was
heavily dependent on external resources and was having difficulties
in working within stipulated time frames due to late disbursements
or unavailability of funds from donors.
- COPAC still
owed the outreach teams some funds; commitment had not been met
due to limited funding. In addition to non-payment of personnel,
other service providers were also yet to be paid.
- Public media
was charging prohibitive rates to COPAC for advertising yet it
was being used to churn out Zanu-PF propaganda through ‘praise’
jingles every hour on both ZTV and radio stations.
- The Police
was also inactive in maintaining order and security as witnessed
during the Harare outreach programme and in other areas were intimidation
was reported during the outreach process. The Harare process was
characterised by intimidation, ‘bussing’ of people
from outside Harare and violence.
- Bulawayo
managed to have two meetings per ward with a few disturbances
while all other centres around the country also managed to have
one meeting per ward.
The presentation
ended by indicating that the challenges experienced during the constitution
making process so far could be addressed through political will
and commitment by the police to maintaining order and security.
COPAC would have managed to carry out all activities on time if
the Harare outreach had been better managed by all stakeholders.
Assessment
of the Constitution-making process – Civil society perspective
Christian Alliance,
a civic organisation based in Bulawayo was closely following the
constitution making process and through its interactions with the
public came to the conclusion that the outcome of the constitution-making
process was flawed and its outcome was not going to be reflective
of the will of the people of Zimbabwe. The feeling was that the
process had been heavily politicised given the ‘unhealthy
relationship’ that exists among the principals of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA). It was against such a background
of ‘politicking’, mistrust and manipulation of the electorate
that the constitution making process was going to result in a flawed
outcome. Evidently the current constitution was highly irrelevant
as it had has been amended a record 19 times. Rooted in the colonial
era, it had some exploitative and oppressive elements which promoted
violence, intolerance and authoritarianism.
Successes
of the constitution-making process
The presenter
cited the following success points in the process so far:
- Setting
up of COPAC to facilitate the constitution-making process
- Training
of rappotouers
- Civic society
set up mechanisms to monitor the outreach process and documented
and their findings which reflected the presence of incidences
of violence and intimidation in some parts of the country.
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