Copac comes under attack

The development comes amid calls by the principals in the Inclusive Government to speed up the process that is set to pave way for harmonised elections.

Between Monday and Wednesday, the constitution-making body met in Nyanga in a bid to iron out the more than 200 sticking issues that have stalled the process.

This was after the three political parties in the Inclusive Government, Zanu-PF, MDC and MDC-T ordered Copac to review the first draft constitution, which contained some controversial issues.

Copac co-chairperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora yesterday could not give details of how the meeting progressed and only said the committee agreed on a number of issues.

“The meeting progressed well and everyone was happy. From my evaluation it was a fruitful meeting. We agreed that all questions should from now on be referred to the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Eric Matinenga,” he said.

Mr Matinenga could also not indicate when the referendum would be held after failing to meet May and June deadlines.

“I cannot give timelines but what I can say is that we are fully aware of the expectations of the country. The process is still on and significant progress has been made,” said Mr Matinenga.

“We will be meeting again soon to finalise the process. There are a number of issues which we addressed and I am confident that we will deliver. The next stage of course would be the second stakeholders’ conference before presenting the draft to Parliament.”

However, in separate interviews yesterday, senior politicians from Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC accused Copac of misleading the country and setting false timelines.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said it was disappointing that Copac had failed to complete the process on time and accused the committee of manipulating people’s views to satisfy narrow selfish interests.

“We are very disappointed with Copac as a party because of its dilly dallying. We are terribly aware that some people are benefiting a lot from Copac and want this process perpetuated because of personal interests,” said Cde Gumbo.

“The people who suffer most are ordinary people. The new constitution should reflect people’s views and not those of co-chairpersons. If this continues there may be need to dissolve the teams. The process has to come to a conclusion now but Copac is dragging its feet.

“The way forward is for Copac teams to agree on the new constitution or agree to disagree.”

President Mugabe has indicated that the country might be forced to hold the planned elections under the Lancaster House constitution in the event the country fails to come up with a new constitution.

MDC-T organising secretary Mr Nelson Chamisa said the delays in completing the drafting of the new constitution was not in the public interest.

“The dilly dallying we are seeing is not in the interest of the country and the people. We cannot afford to have winter for 12 months and this is abnormal. We have to come to the end of this long winter,” said Mr Chamisa.

“People are waiting for the new document. They want free and fair elections. Politicians should stop playing games.

“People spoke eloquently for devolution of power, democratic governance and accountability. The winter of bickering, sloganeering, parroting must end now and it is high time that we start putting people first.”

MDC spokesman Mr Nhlanhla Dube also attacked Copac for putting unrealistic timelines and said his party was not surprised that the process was taking longer than envisaged.

“The process had over ambitious timelines. Constitution-making is a tedious process and we are not surprised it is taking longer than projected. The problem is that Copac overpromised and under-delivered,” said Mr Dube.

“The trading of accusations between parties is just political gymnastics. What we want is for the constitution to represent what people want. We are cautiously optimistic that the process of coming up with a new constitution is top most on the national agenda and would be completed before the end of the year and then we go for elections next year.”

The crafting of the new supreme law is lagging behind schedule, with some doubting if the country would ever have the document in time for elections expected this year.