Copac haggles over Nguni suit

a Supreme Court litigation launched by presi­dent of the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisa­tions Mr Goodson Nguni.
In his application, Mr Nguni is seeking to force Copac to publish the national statistical report in the local media.

Zanu-PF does not want to oppose the application while the two MDC formations want Copac to file papers for an appearance to defend the litigation.
The issue came up for discussion when Copac con­vened a meeting last Thursday, but the political parties failed to reach an agreement.

Zanu-PF legislators in Copac insisted that they would not oppose the application, saying those who wanted to do so should do it in their personal capacity and not as Copac. The MDC formations were, however, united that the application by Mr Nguni was not tenable because, in their view, it would scuttle the Second

All-Stakeholders’ Conference set for October 4 to 6 2012.
Zanu-PF co-chairperson Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mang­wana confirmed the impasse. “As Zanu-PF, we said we cannot oppose the applica­tion because we want the national report to be made available. We said those who want to oppose it would do so in their personal capacity and not as Copac,” said Cde Mangwana.

He said it was not possible for the MDC formations to use Copac to oppose the application without the involvement of Zanu-PF.
“Copac is run by consensus. They cannot file papers as Copac without Zanu-PF just as we could not publish the national report without the signature of the MDC-T because we needed their consensus,” he said.
MDC-T co-chairperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said they were of the view that they should oppose the appli­cation. He said the application was “unreasonable”.

Mr Mwonzora said in his application, Mr Nguni wanted Copac to publish the national report in 20 news­papers in all languages within 10 days, failure of which the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference should not be held. “We interpreted it as a ploy to delay the conference. We have never hidden the national data. If we are to publish it in the manner he wants us to do, it would cost us US$500 000. That is unreasonable and unacceptable, so we will oppose it,” said Mr Mwonzora.

MDC co-chairperson Mr Edward Mkhosi accused Mr Nguni of trying to scuttle the constitution-making process.
“How can you just take us to court without initially engaging us? They want to torpedo the whole process,” said Mr Mkhosi. “We had a meeting in Copac and we did not agree with our counterparts in Zanu-PF. They are singing from the same hymn book with Nguni.”

However, Cde Mangwana dismissed the contention by Mr Mwonzora, saying it would cost Copac not more than US$50 000 to publish the report.
“If we were able to fund an outreach programme, why would it be expensive to us to publish the people’s views? As Zanu-PF, we are a people’s party, we can’t oppose an application which is in the best interest of the people,” said Cde Mangwana.