Mugabe 'retirement clause' still in the draft constitution - Mwonzora

Constitution Select Committee  (Copac) co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora saying the Constitutional Select Committee has retained a clause in the draft constitution reportedly barring candidates that have already served 2 terms from taking part in future elections, contrary to Zanu-PF claims that the draft constitution had been "overhauled" to accommodate President Mugabe.

Copac members from the three ruling political parties leading the constitution-making process agreed to re-look clauses causing the controversy, including one viewed as aimed at forcing Mugabe to retire.

The clause that has caused the most controversy bars anyone who would have served two five-year presidential terms before from standing in elections.

Sources said a heated meeting in Vumba last week resulted in a compromise agreement to re-look at the clauses.

The Mugabe "retirement clause", sources said, would be reviewed, with a possibility of adding safeguards such as stating that the clause cannot be used to refer to presidential terms served before, authoritative sources said.

Mugabe, who turned 88 yesterday, claims the clause is the work of the coalition partners, the MDC, whom he said were afraid of facing him in an election.

The clause reads: "A person is disqualified for election as President if he or she has already held office for one or more periods, whether continuous or not, amounting to 10 years."

Mugabe, who has lived through five United States presidents and three Zambian presidents and is the oldest serving non-ceremonial president on the continent, has been president since 1987. Before that he was Prime Minister since independence in 1980.

Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora confirmed that the draft containing the clause was under review by the select committee.

"We have retained clause 6.4.2 but we seek to make it clear. We have retained it and made it clearer and less open to abusive interpretation," Mwonzora said.

Clause 6. 4.2 deals with the presidential terms and age limits.

"We found that the clause was necessary in a democracy and one of the situations it addresses is what is about to happen in Russia where a president served his statutory two terms and went on to get another job as Prime Minister and now wants to go back as president to serve two terms," Mwonzora said.

He said such a situation was unacceptable because it would see a person serving "for more than 40 years".

Mwonzora co-chairs Copac with Zanu PF's Paul Mangwana and Edward Mkhosi of the smaller MDC formation.

Mangwana is part of 10 members of Zanu PF that, as party representatives in Copac, oversaw the first draft containing the clause.

According to sources within Copac, the 10 Zanu PF members within the select committee who had initially given the draft the green light were pressured by party members who felt they had stepped out of line.

This resulted in combative meetings in Vumba where they strongly demanded a review of the clauses that have caused trouble.

Zanu PF secretary for administration had prior to the Vumba meetings told the Daily News that members of Zanu PF in Copac had gone off the party route.

"Why do they want to block our president from standing? Who do they think they are? Why are they trying to play around with the constitution? Those people are not doing what Zanu PF agreed on. Please make it very clear that Zanu PF is greater than them," Mutasa said.

Mugabe also came out strong in a birthday interview with state media saying he was aware of the plot to use the constitution making process to prevent him from standing in an election.

He poured cold water on the prospect saying no one in his party had the capacity to win against bitter rival and coalition partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

"Cowards, cowards, cowards, why are they afraid of me? Why should they ban anyone at all," Mugabe said.

He said principals to the coalition government would scrap clauses they didn't like when the draft came to them for scrutiny.