Draft constitution to be gazetted next week

Addressing journalists in Harare, Minister Matinenga also said Copac would disband this month as it had completed its mandate.
He said no changes would be made to the draft constitution but it has to go through all the Parliamentary processes for it to become law.

“In terms of the law, the chief elections officer is supposed to transmit the results to my ministry and my ministry is obliged to publish these results in a major paper circulating in the country and that is when the draft can be published in the Government Gazette
“We hope to gazette the draft as a Constitutional Bill at the very latest on March 28, which is next week while the publication of the results will be done much more earlier,” he said.

“We anticipate it to be tabled in Parliament for debate on May 7 and there will be no amendments to be done because the people have spoken. Other than that, Parliament has already accepted a motion on that before and I see no problems emerging.”

According to the law the Constitutional Bill should be gazetted for 30 days before it is taken to Parliament.
“There is more than 30 days between March 28 and May 7 and we also expect Parliament to debate for a week or so. If the two thirds majority required to pass the Bill is obtained from the House of Assembly and Senate then it means the Bill will be placed before the President to become law,” Minister Matinenga said.
He said the responsible ministries would soon start aligning various laws with the new constitution as the country heads for general elections this year.

“It is clear we are heading for an election this year and there is nothing wrong if we start aligning laws with the new supreme law concurrently with the Parliamentary processes,” he said.

“We will be looking at laws relating to the elections that is the Electoral Law and Local Government rule. For example we have the issue of aliens who have to vote in the forthcoming elections and this is only possible if we align the new constitution with the laws.”

Minister Matinenga said there might be a need to re-engage drafters of the new constitution factoring in the changes into the laws.
He said Copac, a parliamentary committee that steered the constitution making process, would disband this month.

“Copac is a committee of Parliament set up to do a specific task and that task is now complete and it means Copac’s existence has to come to an end,” he said.
“We give them credit for being successful on the project though they worked under difficult circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Copac is winding up its business following the adoption of the draft constitution.

Addressing a press briefing yesterday Copac co-chairperson Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana thanked Zimbabweans for coming out in their large numbers.
“A small team of the secretariat will remain at work. We once again thank the people of Zimbabwe for showing high levels of commitment to national processes,” he said.
His counterpart Mr Douglas Mwonzora assured Copac creditors that concerted efforts were being done to clear off debts.

“We need to do administrative work including settling of our debts with various creditors. We want to assure creditors that we are committed to seeing that the debts are settled by the Government and donor community,” Mr Mwonzora said.

He added that various government departments would now continue with publicity campaigns to ensure the generality of Zimbabweans fully grasp the contents of the constitution.

His counterpart Mr Douglas Mwonzora assured Copac creditors that concerted efforts were being done to clear off debts.
“We need to do administrative work including settling of our debts with various creditors. We want to assure creditors that we are committed to seeing that the debts are settled by the Government and donor community,” Mr Mwonzora said.

He added that various government departments would now continue with publicity campaigns to ensure the generality of Zimbabweans fully grasp the contents of the constitution.