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players try to scuttle the process, the Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity, Mr George Charamba, has said.
Mr Charamba said people should stop speculating and pre-empting the outcome of the referendum before the process has commenced.
He said Copac should avoid tampering with people’s needs and interests but should allow them to speak out through a referendum.
President Mugabe has since indicated that Zimbabwe should hold a referendum to decide on the new constitution next month.
“Copac can continue to work in their slow fashion, but they should know that the President has given them a deadline to complete the constitution and therefore a referendum is unavoidable,” said Mr Charamba.
“Those who have started pre-judging the referendum before it even takes off the ground are being dishonest to themselves.
“It is sad that the constitution- making process has been surrounded by many people pushing for their own interests and the document is full of ugly fingerprints from external forces, embassies and political parties.
“We have 26 people working on the process and Copac within its own ranks is working against the same process with contentious meddling.
“This will be lifted from the management committee and taken straight to the principals who are signatories to the Global Political Agreement and are now taking full control of the process.
“Let them continue militating against the process, but they will soon pick pace since his Excellency has set a deadline for them.
“We expect Copac to submit a draft document to the principals of the inclusive Government for it to be approved as a draft constitu- tion.
“We are redeeming the process from Copac and redesigning it into national responsibility. It’s bad enough for Copac to try and tamper with the people’s needs.
“This culture of the management committee and Copac reverting to being negotiators at the expense of the nation is not good at all.
“Such a scenario is open to subversion by foreign interest and we are saying let’s use the national report as our benchmark.
“We will certainly hold the referendum and people will have their say on the new home-grown constitution rather than trying to pre-empt and lead people on their thoughts,” he said.
Last month President Mugabe indicated that elections will be held this year with or without a new constitution.
leeroy