Draft constitution is not final says Chinamasa

Zanu-PF Copac management committee member, Patrick Chinamasa, says the draft constitution is not final and can be subjected to a raft of changes by parties in the inclusive Government.
Chinamasa yesterday said if any political party did not approve the draft constitution, there would be nothing to take to the Second All-Stakeholders Conference.
Speaking from Mozambique where he is away on national duty, Chinamasa said members of the management committee signed the document for the constitution-making process to move to the next stage.
"The draft we initiated as negotiators is not a final document to be taken to the Second All-Stakeholders Conference. The document is not conclusive and can be opened for discussion and alteration," he said.
The MDC formations have been claiming the Copac draft is final and should be taken to the Second All Stakeholders Conference â€" without amendments â€" amid reports MDC-T had already circulated the document in the region ahead of this week's Sadc Summit scheduled for Maputo, Mozambique.
The Zanu-PF politburo has been meeting over the past three weeks with meetings stretching into the early hours of the morning to audit the draft against the national report, amid reports the draft was not a true reflection of what the people said during the outreach programme.
Reports say the MDC-T national council met for only one hour and endorsed the document, while the MDC met for 30 minutes and approved it.
Chinamasa said members of the management committee did not have the final word on the draft.
"As negotiators, we represented our respective political parties not ourselves.We were not on the negotiating table as individuals and it means the document is subject to endorsement by the political parties. If any political party doesn't approve the document we have produced there is nothing to take to the next stage," he said.
Chinamasa, who is also deputy secretary for legal affairs in Zanu-PF, said negotiators were just agents of principals and their parties, adding they should not take a lead in the process.
"We do not have power over the principals and party organs. That is why in our case we took the document to the Politburo and the central committee for approval.
"These are the final arbiters of what we did so it's not yet a done deal," he said.
Chinamasa said there was no way Zanu-PF would give a "sheepish response" to a "lifetime" document.
"We were very thorough and every time finished late when we audited the document clause by clause, sentence by sentence and word by word . . . and that is commendable. This is a document for life and an important one in our history and no political party should take it lightly.
"Being a democratic and revolutionary party, we are bound to question whatever is in the document," he said.
He dismissed reports that Zanu-PF was divided over the draft constitution.
Zanu-PF secretary for information and publicity, Rugare Gumbo, recently said his party would give the document "the seriousness it deserves", hence the reasons for spending many days auditing it.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora yesterday said the signing of pages by Zanu-PF marked the conclusion of the drafting process.
He said his party was not going to amend the document.
"A signature is not an insignificant and useless addition to a document. It means something, which in this case conclusion and recording of an agreement.
"We are not going to make any changes because we respect the views of the people, views which may not be in tandem with our political philosophy," he said.
MDC spokesperson, Mr Kurauone Chihwayi, said the document produced by Copac was final.
"That is a final document to be presented at the conference. By appending their signatures it means it's final and there will be no other draft other than that one we signed," he said.
Contested areas in the draft include national objectives and foundations, the significance of the liberation struggle, the appointment of provincial governors, the establishment of the constitutional court and the tenure of the GPA, to mention just a few.
Other areas of dispute include the deployment of defence forces outside the country and the proposed restructuring of the Attorney-General's Office.
There was also debate on the section dealing with the nomination of presidential candidates and their running mates.