First draft of the Constitution referred back to committee

COPAC's management committee has referred the first draft of the Constitution to the entire select committee to ensure that it conforms to views of the people gathered during the outreach.

This comes amid reports that the Copac draft contained several ''parked issues'' even where people made their preferences clear.

The management committee comprises Global Political Agreement negotiators, Copac co-chairpersons and Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga.

Highly-placed sources in Copac yesterday said the management committee referred the document back after realising that it did not reflect people's views.

"The management committee sent back the draft to Copac for the attention of not only the co-chairs, but the entire select committee as its contents did not reflect the views of the people," said a source.

However, MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti said the document had been referred back to parties for their input.

"All we did was to ask the political parties to look at the first draft produced by the Select Committee so that they could make their comments," said Mr Biti, an MDC-T negotiator, who is also Finance Minister.

"The document has not been referred back to the Select Committee, but we asked parties so that they can make their comments.

"As the MDC-T, we have already made our comments."

The management committee, said Mr Biti, was seized with the parked issues to ensure they are resolved soon.

He said the management committee was going to meet again next week with a view to resolving the parked issues.

The Zanu-PF and MDC component of the management committee could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.

On Monday, Copac co-chairpersons said they had made "major strides" on dual citizenship where they agreed that an Act of Parliament will allow or prohibit dual citizenship.

This is despite the fact that the National Report makes it clear that dual citizenship was shot down by the majority. There was also no agreement on devolution, even though in the National Report, the majority view is for a unitary State.

Copac sources have since said the draft was not different from the one that sparked outrage when we published it two months ago.

They argue that the only change was the "syntax and choice of words".

The first draft was rejected and referred back to the drafters as constitutional experts described it as an "orchestrated" attack on the country's moral, cultural and revolutionary pillars.

GPA principals have ordered the management committee to submit the draft this week.

The two contentious issues, devolution and dual citizenship, were rejected by the public during the outreach programme, but they remain "parked" and unresolved matters.

Some political analysts have said neither the Select Committee nor the Management Committee has the mandate to divert from what was said by the people.

The writing of the new Constitution, that started three years ago, has been stalled on several occasions due to disagreements among political parties driving the process.

Stakeholders have accused Copac of turning the process into a money-spinning venture.