Copac co-chairs in near fight over drafters

almost came to blows yesterday at a Select Committee meeting over communication procedures with drafters.
Cde Mangwana last night confirmed that tempers flared during the meeting, adding that such tense situations were bound to occur.

“Pabasa rakadai vanhu vanotonetsana chaizvo. Zvinofanana nemuParliament,” he said.
Mr Mwonzora said he was insisting on the need for the co-chairpersons to avoid communicating with the drafters outside agreed procedures.
“We were not necessarily coming to blows, but I just felt it is important that the co-chairs respect the agreed mode of communication with the drafters to avoid a situation where one of the co-chairs can influence the drafters,” he said.

“I am totally against anything that is designed to derail the programme any further.”
Sources who attended the meeting said discussions on drafters raised tempers.
Cde Mangwana said he wrote to the drafters asking them to stop the process because “they were not including the people’s views”.

He said the drafters were arguing that the land issue could not be resolved by the constitution.
Cde Mangwana said the drafters also wanted a provision empowering judges to include rights of homosexuals on the basis of ‘‘natural differences”.
The drafters, Cde Mangwana said, intended to have clause on dual citizenship to facilitate the return of whites who left the country.

He said they wanted to promote secessionist ideas by declaring that Zimbabwe was not a unitary State.
“We raised objections that they were not following the views contained in the National Statistical Report that captured what people said,” Cde Mangwana said.
Cde Mangwana urged the drafters to stop the drafting process until they were advised to continue.

“Having realised that you are not making reference to the source documents which record the frequencies on each issue, it is our position that the drafting process must stop forthwith until a comprehensive instruction is given to yourselves,” Cde Mangwana said in his letter to the drafters.
“This letter contains the position of Zanu-PF.

“The process of drafting the new constitution is premised on the agreement of the three main political parties that it should proceed. Once one of the parties expresses reservations about the process and demands that it be stopped, as we have done, you as drafters are obliged to stop until the three political parties reach a consensus on the resumption of the process.”
Cde Mangwana said the draft constitution chapters 1-4 did not reflect the preponderant views of the people obtained during the outreach programme.

Zanu-PF technical committee members Cdes Goodwills Masimirembwa and Jacob Mudenda last week wrote to Cde Mangwana raising their reservations to the draft constitution (their critique is reproduced on pages 10 and 12).

They said drafters were not drafting a people driven constitution but “a constitution with values of his/her own characterised by reference to constitutions of other countries he/she admires”.