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say in the constitution-making process when the committee reaches a deadlock.
Addressing the media after the Second All Stakeholders’ conference in Harare yesterday, Copac co-chairperson Cde Paul Mangwana (Zanu-PF) said there was no need for the principals to intervene in the process when there was no deadlock.
This followed President Mugabe’s point that principals to the Global Political Agreement would have the final say in the constitution-making process because they were the ones who conceived the idea of the process.
He said this on Monday while officially opening the two-day conference.
“Our understanding is that ultimately, the principals will have a final say. There is always this structure, the principals have given us (management committee) . . . they can always come in on areas where the
Select Committee cannot reach a consensus,” he said.
“If we are able to deal with those views, then there will be no need for them to come in but in the event that we have conflicting views, then principals will intervene.”
In his address co-chairperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) said they would now deliberate on the way forward following the submission of the reports.
“Delegates submitted their feedback on the draft in the form of reports, which are now with Copac. The Select Committee shall soon be meeting to deliberate on the way forward for the process,” he said.
He, however, said after considering the proposals a national report on the constitution-making process would then be compiled for debate in Parliament.
“Now that the draft has been presented the next stage will be the production of a report on the constitution-making process, which includes the draft constitution for debate in Parliament.
“After the debate in Parliament, Zimbabweans will be expected to vote in a referendum to decide whether the draft can be adopted as the new constitution of Zimbabwe.”
Cde Mangwana, however, said it was premature to conclude the parties would be deadlocked after the various thematic committees presented divergent views on the draft.
He added no timelines to complete the process were set because Copac was yet to consolidate the submissions from the second all stakeholders’ conference.
He said the GPA outlined that the referendum should be held within three months of the conference.
Mr Mwonzora said they had no control over the holding of the referendum as it was under the ambit of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, 13 chiefs who were part of the 22 chiefs at the conference petitioned Copac arguing some of their views had been ignored by the thematic committee on traditional leaders.
“Despite the chiefs having made extensive and detailed submissions and recommendations on various clauses in Chapter 15, the rapporteurs did not record the substance of the chiefs submissions for reasons that have not been disclosed and to our distress the report was submitted in plenary,” the chiefs said.
Cde Mangwana said they had received the report and would investigate the matter.
“We have received that report that the final report did not contain everything that was deliberated on and we have advised the chiefs that we will look at the video and audio recordings if there were any omissions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zanu-PF official Cde Temba Mliswa, allegedly confiscated a camera belonging to a Copac official for allegedly filming him outside the committee meetings.
Copac was recording all meetings by the thematic committees.
“I was having a discussion outside the room of the meeting and my understanding was that they were only supposed to film those proceedings and not those happening outside,” he said.
Copac said they had received the report of the matter and were investigating the issue.
Online Reporter