A new constitution: Let Zimbabweans decide

The recently published first Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) draft constitution has generated intense debate across the country with some within Zanu PF led by Professor Jonathan Moyo and Tafataona Mahoso attacking everything about the draft, including Zanu PF representatives in COPAC. This small group of very vocal individuals with access to acres of state media space is essentially advancing two mistaken views, namely that the draft constitution should be abandoned now because it ostensibly does not reflect the views of the people and that the next elections should be held under the current Lancaster House constitution. I seek here to demonstrate that this noise around the constitution is both unjustified and unnecessary.

To begin with, COPAC is not pretending that the first draft is the final document, but only a draft subject to several more steps of validation by Zimbabweans including a second all stakeholders conference and ultimately a national referendum whose precise function is to give Zimbabweans an opportunity to accept or reject the draft. One therefore wonders why a few individuals within Zanu PF including Professor Jonathan Moyo and Tafataona Mahoso would purport to speak for the people of Zimbabwe and seek to pre-empt a process that is underway. If it is indeed true, which it is not, that the views of Zimbabweans have not been captured in the draft constitution, then surely it is up to Zimbabweans themselves through the national referendum vote to indicate that their views were indeed omitted.

It is unfair for a small group of individuals to disenfranchise Zimbabweans through a premature campaign to abandon the constitutional review process without affording the people an opportunity to engage directly with the draft document. The first draft constitution has been widely circulated, including through publication by the Herald, it is now in the public domain. But there has been no public outcry over the draft constitution except from the usual suspects who appear to be using the draft constitution to address matters internal to Zanu PF. Zimbabweans know what they said they want in a new constitution – they must be given a chance to decide on the draft constitution at the right time using the right platform on a national referendum.

After investing so much time (over two years) and resources (in excess of $45 million) into the constitution-making process led by parliamentarians from both Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, it is only fair that the process be taken to its logical conclusion as we are now covering the last mile in the process. There is a real danger, however, that we may drop the button while covering this last lap, or in shona, kuputsa chirongo tasvika. Various voices are now emerging from the shadows, including from the army, displacing Zimbabweans and purporting to speak for them. It is not for the army, or any single political party or group of individuals to decide and prescribe what Zimbabweans want – that must be left to the ballot.

A fundamental tenet of democracy is that citizens must be able to express their wishes directly, usually through a vote, either on a matter of governance or on who should represent them in government. This tenet is now in mortal danger as a small group of individuals campaign vigorously to have Zimbabweans forego their basic right to vote on this important matter. It is necessary to examine possible reasons why there is this desperate attempt to stop the new constitution and push Zimbabweans to go for the next elections under the current Lancaster House constitution.

In my view, the truth of the matter is that there is a real fear of positive political change that will be brought about by a new constitution. Already, the first COPAC draft has triggered panic by its proposals for such reforms as the stripping of the presently politicized office of the Attorney General of prosecuting powers to vest those powers in a new Independent National Prosecuting Authority, the imposition of strict terms limits on the president and security chiefs, widespread electoral reforms, the creation of a Constitution Court that will pave way for a revamp of the currently compromised judiciary, the strengthening of Parliament to improve checks and balances on executive power and the development of a comprehensive Bill of Rights with stronger rights of women clearly and specifically including the right to paid maternity leave, right of guardianship of minor children, equality with men and recognition of affirmative action. Additionally, the principle of devolution has been acknowledged, although its functions and mechanics are still being worked out.

These reforms, although not as sweeping as some of us would have wanted, are sufficient to permanently alter Zimbabwe’s political landscape and to generate new election campaign issues for the next election. It is this potential for real change of the political and electoral landscape that seems to have triggered the shrill calls for the process either to be abandoned or to be separated from the next elections in order to hold those elections under an uneven political field and under conditions of militarized violence. There is need for a strong pushback against attempts to prematurely derail the constitution-making process by taking away the right of Zimbabweans to decide on their future and putting that power in the hands of a few individuals who think they can sit in their lofty offices and prescribes what is good for us all.
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* Dewa Mavhinga, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Regional Office
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