Draft constitution to be ready by end of year: Copac

Munyaradzi Mangwana, yesterday said while the process had been hamstrung by technical challenges, they were determined to complete the process soon.

“We want to ensure that we have a draft at least this year. We are working hard to ensure that we achieve that,” said Cde Mangwana in an interview yesterday.
Copac, said Cde Mangwana, was at the moment finalising data collection reports for district and provinces.
“Drafting of the constitution should start in two weeks time. We are finalising reports on data collection for districts and provinces and we hope that this process would be complete by this Friday,” he said.

The completion of constitution making is part of the benchmarks parties to the Global Political Agreement have set for them to achieve. Zanu-PF and the MDC formations have since agreed on most issues on the election roadmap that would lead to the holding of fresh elections.

President Mugabe has said elections would be held by March next year and urged Copac to expeditiously complete the constitution making process.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces recently castigated those managing the constitution making process for delaying the completion, saying

they seem to be deliberately buying time to line their pockets with allowances.
President Mugabe said he was empowered by the country’s constitution to announce an election date and would do so at the appropriate time.