News / National
Zimbabwe war veterans besieged constitution making body offices (Copac)
14 Jan 2012 at 08:02hrs | Views
War veterans yesterday besieged offices of the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) in Harare and disrupted a joint briefing for the media and civil society.
The more than 10 visibly angry former fighters accused the Copac co-chairpersons of ignoring peoples views in the draft of the new charter.
The co-chairpersons are Cde Munyaradzi Mangwana (Zanu-PF), Mr Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Mr Edward Mkhosi (MDC).
Jabulani Sibanda, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association leader, is leading calls for the constitution-making process to be abandoned, saying it has failed.
Yesterday, the war veterans also protested against delays in the publication of a national report of the outreach phase of the constitution-making process.
You were chosen by the people and people put their views, said a member of the militant group.
Those are the views you are supposed to use. Do not put your own views because that is not what the people want.
You should also not forget that for you to be in that position, it is because of those that fought for this country so you should write what the people want.
Mangwana tried to stand up to the war veterans, telling them to calm down.
Do not come here and intimidate us, be here and air your views properly and not to be angry, Mangwana fumed.
You should respect us like Honourable MPs and people chose us to lead this constitution-making process.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Collaborators Association has threatened Copac with a lawsuit for failure to use people's views in drafting the new constitution.
Ziliwaco lawyers Guni and Guni Legal Practitioners on Tuesday wrote to the three co-chairpersons of Copac demanding that they use the views of the people.
Copac co-chairperson Paul Mangwana yesterday said Ziliwaco's threats were premature and insisted they would ensure that the people's views as gathered during the outreach would be reflected in the new constitution.
The more than 10 visibly angry former fighters accused the Copac co-chairpersons of ignoring peoples views in the draft of the new charter.
The co-chairpersons are Cde Munyaradzi Mangwana (Zanu-PF), Mr Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Mr Edward Mkhosi (MDC).
Jabulani Sibanda, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association leader, is leading calls for the constitution-making process to be abandoned, saying it has failed.
Yesterday, the war veterans also protested against delays in the publication of a national report of the outreach phase of the constitution-making process.
You were chosen by the people and people put their views, said a member of the militant group.
Those are the views you are supposed to use. Do not put your own views because that is not what the people want.
Mangwana tried to stand up to the war veterans, telling them to calm down.
Do not come here and intimidate us, be here and air your views properly and not to be angry, Mangwana fumed.
You should respect us like Honourable MPs and people chose us to lead this constitution-making process.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Collaborators Association has threatened Copac with a lawsuit for failure to use people's views in drafting the new constitution.
Ziliwaco lawyers Guni and Guni Legal Practitioners on Tuesday wrote to the three co-chairpersons of Copac demanding that they use the views of the people.
Copac co-chairperson Paul Mangwana yesterday said Ziliwaco's threats were premature and insisted they would ensure that the people's views as gathered during the outreach would be reflected in the new constitution.
Source - newsday
