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Towards a new constitution - My views
Admire Taguma Musingarabwi
June 10, 2010

A debatable issue about a new constitution that quickly comes to mind is whether it is okay to allow a sixteen year old to legally become a parent whilst at the same time we deny him or her the right to vote in the 'Constitutional Referendum- or other state organised elections because him or her has not yet reached the 'majority age- of eighteen years. What is more important, being a parent or being able to participate in elections? Should we raise the age of legal consent to sexual activities to eighteen or should we lower the age of 'majority- to sixteen? I believe the two age bars should be synchronised for them to make any sense.

As we grapple to write our own `home-grown` constitution we should try and make sure that the new constitution we come up with is `cast in stone` and based on firm pillars. It would be futile if future generations throw out the new constitution or try to draft another one yet again, that is why its of paramount importance that the process of coming up with the new constitution is not only all inclusive, but gets enough input from the youth who happen to be the future.

The question that many ask is whether we, the youth of today are really interested in the politics of the day to make any meaningful contribution to this process or whether we really know what is at sake in coming up with this supreme law. Many who claim to know, base their ideal version of a constitution on what many NGOs and the media make a lot of noise about. Some people are now justifiably calling on a change of the Act governing NGOs, such that they can be transformed into NPOs (Non-Political Organisations) barring them from engaging in the politics of the country. Political pressure groups can thus be registered and governed separately and measures put in place to ensure that they receive no foreign funding. They are numerous reports of so-called (foreign) aid groups going about campaigning for certain political forces and Zimbabwe would justifiably not want the opinion of its subjects to be swayed by foreigners or their money especially on such an important document.

The question that then comes up is of whether Zimbabweans should entrust the future of this country on such gullible characters and if so, why. The best way to get positive and constructive input from the youth is to teach and reinforce in them the need for self respect, pride in one-s country, one-s culture, one-s skin colour and ubuntu. I believe if we get these important aspects of belonging, at a tender age then this country would have a good breed of patriotic youths.

In as much as a constitution helps to prepare a nation for tomorrow, its foundation is always in its history and we should build the supreme law of our country based primarily on that. A history of a civilised, intelligent and prosperous people who have lived for ages between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers and who at one time had the majestic Ancient City (The Great Zimbabwe Monument) as the capital. A people who were colonised, murdered, raped, displaced, dehumanised, economically dispossessed, enslaved, tortured, imprisoned and demoralised among many other atrocities at the hands of mainly the white British settlers from Europe. We need a constitution that realises that 'Great Empires- were built from the `loot` taken from Zimbabwean land and the sweat of its fore-fathers. We need a constitution that is based on the fact that many battles were fought to free the land and that many gallons of blood from gallant sons and daughters of Zimbabwe stain the soils to this day.

Zimbabwe, through its constitution and Africa as a whole should continue to fight for compensation and reparations for the evils of slavery, colonialism, apartheid and the African Holocaust. The Algerian national assembly (Parliament) is currently debating the prospect of criminalising colonisation, to pave way for the possible suing of the French government and companies that directly benefited from the colonisation of Algeria. South Africans are currently suing American companies that supported and propped-up the Apartheid regime. Libya has successfully managed to claim some monetary compensation for colonisation from the Italian government. Haiti which was recently hit by a massive earthquake is now calling upon the French Authorities to not only pay compensation for the evils of colonialism, but to also pay back the estimated billions of Euros in monies Haiti was forced to pay Paris for close to two hundred years after it won its independence so as to gain 'International Recognition- as an independent state. Our constitution should create a suitable platform rather than inhibit the possible prosecution or suing of the British government for the crimes of colonialism.

The greatest sin that the Europeans ever committed against the Africans is not genocide or slavery or colonisation or the plunder of its natural resources and not even apartheid. The greatest sin committed against Africans was telling Africans and making them believe that they are not equal, not as intelligent, not as beautiful and not as capable as the Europeans, to the extent that many Africans wish they were European or American. This phenomenon has meant that Africans are always followers and never leaders and they are continuously willingly dictated to by the Western world. What makes for even sad reading is that African brothers (and sisters) who were either born or moved to stay in the Diaspora now think that they are `better` than those that stayed behind maybe because they are in closer proximity to 'white power-. No wonder things never change for the better for Africa whether there is a black ambassador from the west or even a black president in the White house, because once blacks are in the west-s avenues of power they work for the constitutional system which was built for white supremacy. The New Zimbabwean Constitution should ensure the protection of its heritage at all costs in the hands of mostly blacks who are the majority in this country. Some might say the constitution should ensure 'black supremacy-.

In contrast much of Asia-s people who were colonised by the British, today are better and much more proud to be Asian than us because, they as a people never for one second bought the idea that the white man was superior to them in any way, because they stuck to their culture and beliefs, language, religion and general way of life. It-s no wonder that they shook off colonialism faster than ourselves and now are dominant in the economic and political spheres.

This lack of self belief which was absent from those who fought to free us all from the yolk of colonialism, some say, has sadly returned to haunt the current youth generation which tends to believe that anything with a `white` hand is good. Often in our conversations we hear statements like, `Ndezve chirungu izvi! `, `It is of the white man-s making`, implying that it-s something of a superior quality. This is obviously not always the case.

For as long as the `Whiteman` is that highly revered by our youth and his influence so widely abundant, reinforced by the media and television, then our future and our constitution are doomed. Our youth have one important tool that they have at their disposal which is a decent education bestowed to them by government-s deliberate policy launched soon after independence to educate everyone. But obviously being educated is not good enough as one has to be 'learned- to come full circle. One philosopher once wrote that being 'educated- is having gone through the formal system of school, whilst being 'learned- is being able to question that which you have been taught and concluding on your own whether it is right or wrong. Exposure to literature and history files through patriotic forms of media and institutions of higher learning is helping in a big way to change the perspective that many youth hold on national and personal issues, thereby ensuring that we can have a secure future. The best way though of getting a positive buy-in from the youth is through ensuring that they understand that Zimbabwe-s resources are there to benefit Zimbabweans first and foremost and after such an understanding I am sure the youth can contribute positively to the constitution making process.

It is reported that the Zimbabwean government will be getting 80% of proceeds from the Chiadzwa diamond sales and one wonders why we can not have the same from other minerals, especially those held by foreigners. Zimbabwe-s wealth should be seen to benefit the majority as opposed to a few select minorities regardless of race. Prosperity for every Zimbabwean should be based on hard work and perseverance and not on 'who you know- or the colour of one-s skin. Institutions like the Anti Corruption Commission should be fully capacitated and granted arresting powers as in some countries, so as to be in a position to investigate authoritatively allegations of under hand dealings where national resources are being exploited.

They are some amongst us who say we should forget the past and start afresh and claim that they belong to a new generation that never committed sin (The Labour Party from Britain) and yet when they talk of starting afresh they are not willing to relinquish the `loot` that they inherited. Is it not fair to say that if you inherit the `loot` then inherit the sins as well?

The West tells us to forget our past and our history because they were the `villains` and we the Africans the `super heroes` and that is not a story they would like to read to their kids at bedtime, yet their calendars are full of marked days of remembrance for their `war dead` and War Veterans and yet some people here in Zimbabwe have little respect for our War Veterans and those who died in the wars. Our constitution should thus continue to mark special days in our history that helped shape our nation in a big way. `Our Independence Day` and `Heroes Day` quickly come to mind. I also think that the `Heroes Day` should not be restricted to remembering our heroes who fought colonialism, but should also include the man and women who fell on duty proudly wearing the Zimbabwean military uniform after independence. Taking the oath to be prepared to die in defence of one-s country is no mean feat and our fallen men and women of uniform deserve our respect and remembrance together with our fallen liberation (Chimurenga) war heroes.

I believe this New Constitution making process should be a foundation for us to right all the wrongs about our country. The Americans upon gaining independence from the British tried very much to distinguish themselves from the British (even though they are British by decent) not only through their constitution, but they went further to turn their backs on the British` number one sport which is football and introduced their own football (American Football) which is more of a cross between soccer and rugby, they also turned field hockey to ice hockey and cricket to baseball. They decided to drive on the right side of the road and to manufacture left-hand drive cars. Not to say we should follow the American example, but that this is a great chance for us to reinvent ourselves. We could start by doing away with the colonial garb worn by our judicial officers as it makes them look as if they are still serving the interests of the Queen of England and we may also need to change the attire of our traditional chiefs as there is nothing traditional about their official attire. Let this constitution making process be 'The Last Chimurenga- where we reclaim all that is Zimbabwean that was ever taken from us.

In as much as we clamour for a home grown constitution, we should not try to `invent the wheel` as it were. A constitution is not something new to the world and it would be folly for us to believe that we can discard everything and start afresh. We go into this process with a lot of hope of coming up with a perfect constitution because we can borrow from what many other countries spanning this earth have on their statutes and give it a Zimbabwean flavour and call it our own.

I would like to suggest that we adopt a system of governance that includes the entire cabinet in the Executive and excludes the cabinet from the legislature as what the Americans and the Mozambicans have. I think this would make the Executive more accountable to the legislature and this will also give the legislature enough time to tackle concerns in their constituencies as often enough legislators appointed to cabinet always complain of lack of time to deal with their constituents since they would be based on a full time basis in the capital. I believe this system of governance would also give the President the lee-way to appoint competent people to key ministerial posts who may be more technical than political, rather than be limited to those people in the legislature. I also believe that our Senate should be strengthened, such that it seizes to be a ceremonial house that it seems to be today and becomes more or just as powerful as the lower house to ensure proper oversight on all critical issues of government.

The New Constitution should be based on unbreakable ground that has respect for human dignity, rule of law, freedom of expression and justice for all. Our justice delivery system needs to be overhauled to ensure that the principles of justice which dictate that, 'it is better to have a guilty man walk the streets free than have an innocent man behind bars-. We need a justice system that ensures that, 'one is innocent until proven guilty-, 'one has fair treatment whilst in police custody-, 'We are all equal before the law-, 'one has a speedy trial- and 'All are entitled to legal representation-. Legal representation has often been the difference between life and death and incarceration and freedom. Legal representation is of such paramount importance that no legal case should be allowed to proceed where the defendant does not have an attorney. For legal representation to be only for the well to do is an outright infringement of the principle of 'justice for all-. Many today languish in Remand Prison for up to two years simply because they do not have a lawyer. The Law Society of Zimbabwe should be directed to organize its members to take up more 'pro bono- (Without being paid) cases and the government could appoint such lawyers to ensure fair trials. More training centres for lawyers might need to be established as the University of Zimbabwe is the only institution training lawyers in Zimbabwe. The Great Zimbabwe University-s faculty of Law Studies might need to be capacitated and re-established.

The new dispensation should reinforce the separation of powers of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary such that everyone can have total confidence in our legal system. Anyone who therefore calls for the imposition of sanctions or 'restrictive measures- whether 'targeted- or not in any form on any Government official or Quasi-Government Institution be declared an enemy of the state and charged with High Treason, because history has shown that any sanctions in whatever form always hurt the ordinary people the most and the economic hardships of yesteryear are there for everyone to remember.

We need a strong constitution that will ensure that unwarranted outside interference and divide and rule tactics will not find a playing field in Zimbabwe. The Americans in as much as they enjoy interfering in the affairs of other countries through regime change agendas that include funding of opposition parties have on their statute books laws that strictly prohibit funding of political parties by foreigners and even American companies, because they know foreign money comes with foreign agendas. Israel had to go for snap elections last year because its Prime Minister had been accused of previously taking campaign money from an Israeli American, something which is illegal according to Israeli Law.

Our elections should be organised and verified by Zimbabweans, and we should not be forced to invite people from countries that do not invite us to observe their elections to come and observe our elections. The Americans do not invite foreigners to observe or organise their elections and neither do they invite foreigners to inauguration ceremonies of their presidents because they understand the need to keep such events purely internal (American). The long held belief in some sectors that for any election to be bonafide free and fair there is need to have Western UN observers or organisers was discredited when a deputy UN Chief Elections Officer for Afghanistan resigned sighting an attempt by the UN Chief Elections Officer in Afghanistan to rig the elections in favour of the incumbent and the UN mission had to be forced to back down and announce some 'irregularities- in the election process. As a nation we should not rely on foreigners to do a job that is purely Zimbabwean, when we know we are more than capable of doing the task alone.

We as a people should learn to be proud of ourselves whether we are rich or poor, and should never be forced to bend down simply because we want to sweeten our tea with honey. We should never compromise on our values! 'There is nothing as irresponsible as sleeping through a revolution-. Let your views be heard!

You can contact Admire Taguma Musingarabwi at admusinga@yahoo.com.au

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