adminReports presented by representatives of the different thematic committees reflected the differences that already existed among the three political parties in the inclusive Government on the contents of the draft. It was hoped that the second conference was going to bring about convergence among the various stakeholders but unfortunately this has not been the case. COPAC is back to where it was before the much hyped Second All-Stakeholders Conference and is now expected to prepare the final draft with or without the submissions from participants at the conference.
The final draft is to be taken to Parliament which is expected to make amendments before the draft constitution is put to a referendum. The writing of the new constitution started about three years ago and to date it has gobbled about $50 million. The people have been patient for too long for the finalisation of the country’s supreme law to replace the Lancaster House Constitution which many are agreed has become irrelevant. COPAC should move with speed to finalise the draft and in the event of the parties failing to agree, they should, without delay, hand over the draft to the principals in the inclusive Government who have a final say.
The country has to hold the referendum on the draft constitution this year and time is fast running out given that we are only left with two months before the year ends. What has to be taken into account is that the rains are just around the corner and it might be impossible to hold the referendum once the rains start. The country, as already announced by the President Cde Mugabe, is supposed to hold the harmonised elections at the end of March which means the referendum cannot be moved to next year. Zimbabwe, as President Mugabe noted while officially opening the Second-All Stakeholders’ Conference, is the envy of the whole of Africa because of its high literacy rate of 92 percent but what purpose does it serve when the country fails to come up with a new constitution in three years?
It is not because the country lacks the brains but our major undoing is that we are pursuing petty party interests at the expense of national interests. The constitution, it has to be appreciated, should live beyond the present generation. What we are saying is that the constitution should be relevant and be able to serve the interests and aspirations of many generations to come. It will be naive on our part as stakeholders to want to come up with a piece of document that will address our issues today and become irrelevant tomorrow.
We want to once again urge all the stakeholders to treat the issue of finalising the draft constitution with the urgency it deserves. The country has to move forward and cannot afford to continue wasting resources on the writing of the constitution which should have been concluded in 18 months as initially planned. It is not a secret that there are individuals who are putting spanners in the works because they are benefiting financially from further delays in concluding this national task.
Zimbabweans can differ on issues such as political ideologies but when it comes to fundamentals to do with national interests, there should be convergence and a shared vision. We want to once again call upon COPAC to ensure the draft is finalised within the next few days not weeks so that the country can move to the next stage.
Online Reporter