adminwas an eventful year. The constitution making process is one of the political events that gobbled more time, financial and material resources and political space.
Copac only had 18 months to complete the constitution making process, but the process has been moving at a snail’s pace. It is now 45 months and still ongoing.
The constitution making process also found space in the itinerary of two major Sadc summits in Angola in June and in Mozambique in August.
About US$50 million mainly from donors has been sunk into the process.
Parties to the Global Political Agreement are still thrashing out some sticky issues that are stalling the process.
On several occasions, the process was abandoned as the parties failed to agree on principles.
The Copac official draft constitution was released in March, but there were still some fissures as Zanu-PF rejected some of the contents, arguing they were smuggled into the document.
Over 200 sticky issues emerged and Copac organised a retreat in Nyanga to narrow the differences.
Some of the contentious issues include; dual citizenship, death penalty, appointment of governors and the executive structure (whether the country should have two vice presidents or not), the Attorney General’s Office and threshold of victory for president — 50 percent plus one vote. Some of the thorny issues were the gay rights debate and running mates.
Sadc appointed facilitator and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team visited Zimbabwe on several occasions to monitor progress on the constitution making process. So many interest groups among them churches, students bodies, war veterans and even journalists, gave their views on the contents of the draft constitution. When the official Copac draft was finally released, the MDC-T national council reportedly met for one hour and endorsed the document while the other MDC formation is said to have endorsed it in 30 minutes. The MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai immediately launched a yes vote campaign before the other major partner in Government had come up with its position. To show how serious Zanu-PF considered the matter, the Politburo met on several sessions, auditing every sentence, paragraph and chapter and differed with the MDC formations on many areas.
Other areas of contestation also included the deployment of the defence forces outside the country and the proposed restructuring of the AG’s office among others.
The two MDC formations ganged up against Zanu-PF and vowed that the draft was final and nothing was going to be changed. Eventually, they gave in and Zanu-PF’s amendments were discussed during the Second All Stakeholders Conference in October.
During this conference, President Mugabe broke the camel’s back when he announced that the principals had the final say in constitution making process.
On the sidelines, the MDC formation led by Professor Welshman Ncube boycotted the official opening of the conference protesting the inclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara on the high table.
A three member ministerial committee chaired by Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga was appointed to deal with the sticky issues.
Other members of the committee are Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Regional Integration and International Cooperation Minister Pricilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
The constitution making process is delaying harmonised elections that the President said should be held early next year.
Meanwhile, about 120 Zimbabweans, mainly Zanu-PF officials and 70 companies and their executives remain on the US, British and European Union sponsored illegal sanctions. It is against this background that the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation hosted the Zimbabwe Diamonds Conference in Victoria Falls in November. The meeting was meant to explain to the world diamond industry that Zimbabwe continued to suffer from US and EU sanctions in spite of achieving 100 percent Kimberly Process Certification Scheme compliance.
However, the country’s diamonds continue to be affected by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions.
One of the major political highlights that closed the year was the watershed Zanu-PF 13th Annual National People’s Conference held in Gweru.
So candid were the deliberations and Zanu-PF chose its First Secretary and President Mugabe as the sole candidate for the harmonised elections set for next year and a winning formula. The party also directed all structures to earnestly and immediately prepare for a resounding victory in the forthcoming elections by adopting a “Bhora Mugedhi”/ “Ibhola Egedhini” posture.
President Mugabe attended Sadc meetings to discuss the political and security situations in Zimbabwe and Madagascar and he also attended the Sadc 32nd ordinary summit in Maputo in August.
The President also attended the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, Iran, where world leaders blasted the US’s interventionist policies.
He also attended the Comesa summit in Uganda and the just ended African, Caribbean and Pacific meeting in Malabo-Equatorial Guinea.
Online Reporter