Xinhua
By Tichaona CHifamba
9 July 2009
HARARE, (Xinhua) — The all-stakeholders conference set for Friday and Saturday to chart the way forward for Zimbabwe ’s new constitution will be held against a cloud of uncertainty, suspicion and discord.
To many people, the making of a new constitution is one huge step towards a new election, which will be conducted 20 months to 24 months from now, depending on the pace of the constitution- making process.
And they hope that their voices will be heard this time around.
The all-stakeholders conference will also determine the way the constitution-making process will take, and the mood, especially after earlier discord about the consultative process, where President Robert Mugabe and his party, Zanu PF, were insisting that the new constitution should be hinged on the Kariba draft constitution.
The Kariba draft was produced by the three parties in September 2007, ahead of the 2008 harmonized Presidential, Parliamentary and Senatorial elections.
However, the larger MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected the use of the Kariba draft as the sole reference, arguing that the process should be taken to the people, and any other draft constitution should be considered. It has also argued that the Kariba draft was a compromise document done to avoid a crisis in the event of a contested election result.
Another issue which may be contentious is the identification of stakeholders, which was done by the committee itself. Those who have been left out will want to know why. Each province will provide 500 delegates to the conference, giving a total of 5,000 from Zimbabwe ’s 10 provinces.
The constitution-making process kicked off in all the country’s provinces towards the end of June, amid uncertainty over the final product and fear that the process would be hijacked by politicians. Stakeholders wanted assurances that the final product would be what the people wanted, rather than what the politicians dictated.
Co-chairperson of the select committee Munyaradzi Mangwana said the public would be involved in every step of the way and see the draft before it was finalized.
While many stakeholders are excited about the impending all- stakeholders conference, Zanu PF MPs want it to be deferred, arguing that they need more time to consult their constituents.
The select committee have rejected their request, saying it has not found any compelling reasons to defer the conference, prompting the Zanu PF MPs to appeal to their party leadership, hoping that the three principals to the Global Political Agreement will decide on the matter.
The National Constitutional Assembly, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe National Students Union are also not interested in the conference, albeit for different reasons. These argue that the process is not people driven and, as a result, people’s views were likely to be ignored by the politicians.
Some parliamentarians are also not happy that their select committee decided to invited foreign dignitaries to the all- stakeholders conference, insisting that the constitution should by done by Zimbabweans, for Zimbabweans.
However, the committee has defended itself, saying that it felt it prudent to bring in such people to learn from their experiences and use these as case studies, but not necessarily to adopt constitutions from their countries.
Among those earmarked for invitation is South African businessman and former African National Congress secretary-general Cyril Ramaphosa.
Various organizations and members of the public have responded positively to the constitution-making process. Some have since presented their own drafts of a new constitution. Apart from the contentious Kariba draft, churches and other organizations have also come up with their own drafts.
Co-chairperson of the Parliamentary select committee Senator David Coltart was quoted recently as saying that the Bulawayo Legal Practitioners Association, in conjunction with the Law Society of Zimbabwe, had also submitted a draft to his committee.
Besides these drafts, there have been indications that the process could also borrow from the rejected constitution of 2000 and the parallel one that had been drafted by the National Constitutional Assembly.
According to the GPA, the convening of an all-stakeholders conference is the final stage in the first phase of the constitution-making process.
After the conference, various thematic committees will move around the country to collate public views on what should go into the new constitution.
The GPA signed last September by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC stipulated that a select committee should convene an all-stakeholders conference within three months after its appointment.
The public consultation process should be completed no later than four months after the stakeholders’ conference and a draft constitution tabled within three months of completion of the public consultation to a second all-stakeholders conference.
Thereafter, the draft constitution and the accompanying report should be tabled before parliament within one month of the second all-stakeholders conference and the accompanying report would then be debated and, if necessary, amended in parliament within one month, before it is gazetted and a referendum conducted within three months.
It is hoped that the process will be done in 18 months and new elections should follow within 24 months from the formation of the inclusive government, which was February 2009.