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Highlights of ZESN and Zimbabwe Institute public meeting
Zimbabwe Election Support Network
August 22, 2012

ZESN in partnership with the Zimbabwe Institute held a public meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the 16th of August 2012. The topic for discussion was The Presidential Running Mate Principle: Solution or Complication to Zimbabwe's Protracted Succession Nightmare? There were three speakers namely Mr. Qhubani Moyo (MDC-N), Honourable Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Mr. Philip Chapfunga (Mavambo) and the moderator was Mr. Charles Mangongera.

The major highlights were as follows:

• The speakers highlighted that the draft constitution proposes that every candidate for election as President must nominate two persons to stand for election jointly with him or her as his or her Vice-Presidents, and must designate one of those persons as his or her candidate for first Vice-President and the other as his or her candidate for second Vice-President.
• Mr. Philip Chapfunga (Mavambo) said that this was a noble idea. He said that it ensures that it presents a party as a team and discourages individualism. He said that it sets a clear outline on lines of succession, and he gave an example of the smooth transition of power after the death of Malawian President Bingu Mutharika. However, he argued that Zimbabwe was too small a state to have two vice presidents and also that there is most likely to be a duplication of responsibilities between the two vice presidents. He highlighted one limitation of the current draft as not stating clearly on who chooses a running mate at the political party level. He suggested that the executive should choose the running mate.
• Mr. Qhubani Moyo (MDC-N) highlighted that Zimbabweans in their diversity spoke during the public outreach stage on what they wanted in case the President resigns, is impeached, or dies. He said that the underlining denominator was that they wanted continuity and smooth transition of power. COPAC also debated on this issue and three scenarios were laid out; one was to have by-elections after the President fails to continue in office for some other reason, the second one was to have Parliamentarians choosing the President from amongst themselves and the third proposed was to allow the person contesting to choose his/her running mates. The third one was adopted after it was regarded as being able to ensure stability, confidence of people, resist intraparty violence and jostling for positions. He expressed disappointment over the delay by ZANU PF to endorse the draft and he argued that those who represented ZANU PF in the COPAC process had signed the draft pretending to have understood everything.
• Honourable Mwonzora reiterated that the draft constitution is a negotiated document mainly because in some instances it became necessary for political parties to negotiate. There was concentration by the public on what they wanted and rarely did people speak about how they wanted it implemented. He reiterated Mr. Qhubani Moyo's view that after an evaluation, the option of running mates proved to be a popular option. His view was that they have an unwritten mandate to have a good constitution hence the need to benchmark the constitution against the best in the world. The main attraction to the running mate option was that it is a tried and tested issue and he gave examples from countries like United States of America, Japan, Ghana, and Malawi.

The public highlighted that in as much as Zimbabweans write a good constitution; if the people in power do not have respect for the constitution then it is nothing. The public also reiterated what Honourable Mwonzora highlighted that the running mate issue is being used successfully in other countries and that it does ensure a smooth transition of power but it is important to know that it is the culture of respect to uphold what is in the constitution in those countries that matters.

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