‘No fresh mandate for Copac trio’

Three lawyers — former High Court judge Justice Moses Chinhengo, Mr Brian Crozier and Ms Priscilla Madzonga — started writing the proposed new constitution  mid-December last year on 35-day contracts which expired on 25 January.
Cde Rugare Gumbo, Zanu-PF national Secretary for Information and Publicity yesterday said considering the “mischief” that the drafters have shown by coming up with their own clauses in the draft, their contracts are unlikely to be extended.  He said the party is concerned about              certain clauses in the draft that the constitution-making process will top the agenda at tomorrow’s Politburo meeting in Harare.
“We are at the drafting stage as you know and                            the initial draft has not been satisfactory,” said Cde           Gumbo.
“Two to four chapters are not satisfactory because three individuals are trying to subvert the will of the people by ignoring views gathered during the outreach. They are writing from their minds not what is in the national report. But the party has been concentrating on the 21st February Movement celebrations so this week we should focus more on the constitution.  So the Politburo is definitely going to discuss what has been happening on the drafting, including those clauses.”
The drafters have been under fire in recent weeks after they produced about four chapters of the draft in which they largely included their own views, ignoring the people’s contributions as contained in the national report compiled after the outreach programme. Copac co-chairman, Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana recently said about 70 percent of the issues in the draft did not originate from the national report but from drafters. 
The writers have been accused of trying to promote the West’s illegal regime change agenda by subverting the will  of the majority of Zimbabweans gathered during the outreach.
Some of the clauses they smuggled into the constitution include the weakening of the powers of the executive president, seeking to recognise homosexuality, dual citizenship, an attempt to create a federal state as well as omitting the land issue. 
There is also the contentious clause 642 — also not derived from the national report — which seeks to prevent President Mugabe from contesting the forthcoming elections on the basis of his age and the fact that he has already served more than two terms. 
All the clauses are contrary to the people’s views with the majority of people supporting a strong executive presidency and a unitary state, opposing homosexuality and dual citizenship.   
Cde Gumbo blasted the drafters for being mischievous. 
“It is true that their (drafters) contracts expired last month,” he said. 
“They had 35-day contracts.  As a party, we do not think it is necessary to extend them.  Yes, the issue of extending them or not is a responsibility of the management committee and the principals but as a party we think it is not prudent to renew them.  The drafters have shown that they are mischievous.  They think that we are fools and they can do what they want.  But it is mischief which will not take them anywhere.”
Cde Gumbo acknowledged that what has been                     released so far is only a draft but wondered how and                why the three drafters could choose to ignore             instructions they got from Copac to base the draft on the national report.
Last week, political scientist and Zanu-PF MP, Professor Jonathan Moyo, castigated the drafters, saying their record warrants dismissal.
“Now if this is not criminally scandalous beyond description, then nothing is.  This fact alone not only proves that Copac’s first draft is so organically flawed as to be beyond mechanical clause-by-clause correction but it also necessitates the non-renewal of the contracts of the drafters if those contracts have indeed expired or their immediate dismissal if their contracts are still valid.  Otherwise there’s no fat chance in hell that these three Machiavellian drafters who have corrupted their role can ever enjoy any national confidence or can be given any benefit of the doubt because they are just bad news and they cannot be taken seriously at all as neutral and professional legal drafters,” said Prof Moyo. 
Cde Gumbo said the country has many professional, experienced and level-headed lawyers, who can do the drafting better than Justice Chinhengo, Mr Crozier and Ms Madzonga.  Among them are those who served the country during the independence talks at Malta, Geneva and the Lancaster House in the 1970s.
They include Prof Simbi Mubako, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and Messers John Mkushi and Kennedy Sibanda.
“They are still alive and able to write a constitution Zimbabwe will all be proud of,” Cde Gumbo said.