INFLUENTIAL CIVIL society groups and trade unions in Zimbabwe have decided to agitate for an alternative constitutional reform process to that being led by the country’s transitional government, the groups said yesterday.
Zimbabwe’s largest political pressure group, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said it was launching the parallel process to produce a draft constitution because many people disagreed that government should lead the crafting of the new charter.
“The NCA with the special support of ZCTU [the main trade union] and Zinasu [main student union] will convene the second people’s convention on Monday 27th July, 2009. Our agenda is to get a genuine process that will give our country a democratic constitution,” said NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku.
He added: “At the convention we will launch under the banner of ‘Take Charge’ and thereafter take it to all people in the country.”
Up to 3,500 delegates from around the country are expected to attend.
Under the state’s fragile powersharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a new constitution must be drafted and adopted by parliament before fresh elections can take place.
Zimbabweans want a new constitution that protects human rights, strengthens parliament and curtails presidential powers, as well as guaranteeing civil, political and media freedom.
A politician-led process has been underway since last month in which supporters of Mr Mugabe have been pushing for the new constitution to be based on a document created by the MDC and Zanu-PF on Lake Kariba in September 2007, known as the Kariba Draft. But the NCA, a coalition of civil society groups and small political parities, the ZCTU and Zinasu have been opposed to it since the start because it largely leaves Mr Mugabe’s powers intact.
The MDC has said it is also opposed to the Kriba draft. But the party has been heavily criticised for taking part in the process because civil society’s influence has been minimal so far.
Last Monday one of the government-led conferences was abandoned after fighting erupted between Mugabe loyalists and members of the MDC.
Prime minister Morgan Tsvangari and Mr Mugabe condemned the trouble and called on all Zimbabweans to work together.
The conference was rescheduled for yesterday.