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next year, officials leading the process have said.
Copac co-chairperson Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana (Zanu-F) said the draft document will be submitted to Parliament on October 15.
“We will report to Parliament by October 15 with the draft constitution,” Cde Mangwana told the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries congress here.
“Thereafter, a referendum will be held within three months, but it is the executive which will decide a date that is practical.
“If they decide to set a date on the 90th day which is the last day (within three months in which a referendum may be held), it will be 15 January.”
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He said while Copac might agree on what should be done, it was critical to note the process was not divorced from happenings in the inclusive Government.
His co-chairperson Mr Douglass Mwonzora (MDC-T) told the meeting that if people reject the draft constitution, it would be a setback for the country.
“If the people say ‘no’ to the new constitution, it will be a tragedy as we will go back to the constitution we have now,” Mr Mwonzora said.
Leader of the other MDC formation Professor Welshman Ncube, however, said prospects of a “no vote” were slim.
“It’s not possible as all parties will make sure they whip their people in line to agree,” Prof Ncube said.
“The pertinent question to ask is what happens if both parties do not agree on the draft constitution which is a likely scenario.”
Copac has agreed on principal drafters of the constitution and these are Justice Moses Chinhengo, Mr Brian Crozier and Ms Priscilla Mudzonga.
A drafting framework has been developed to guide the drafters and the process will be in two phases, namely pre-drafting and actual drafting.
Pre-drafting will take 15 days and involves extraction of constitutional principles from the 17 thematic areas in preparation for actual drafting.
Actual drafting will take 25 days.
The constitution-making process has not been smooth sailing as it has been hampered by lack of funding. Funds provided by donors and Treasury are not sufficient to see the programme through.
Production of district and provincial reports was delayed over disagreements on the form these should take.
The select committee considered the template to be used by thematic committees to produce district reports and there were two divergent views.
The first was a view that the “preponderance” of views should be considered and the second was that the number of times an issue is raised was irrelevant, meaning each view should be given equal status.
The management committee has now resolved the matter and teams have been recalled to start the production of the reports.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo