MDC-T to block Zanu-PF proposed constitution amendment says Biti

Movement for Democratic Change secretary general, Tendai Biti has insisted that his party will block any amendments to the draft constitution and blamed the new impasse over document on President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.

Last week SADC Executive Secretary Tomas Salomao was optimistic that the new constitution had been agreed to by all parties in Zimbabwe and could go to a referendum in October, thus paving the way for general elections next year.

But that timetable has been thrown into uncertainty by Zanu PF's demand for further amendments.

Speaking after the weekend SADC summit in Mozambique Mugabe said the GPA principals would consider changes to the draft proposed by Zanu PF.

"The principals have not yet met on the draft constitution," he said.

"As soon as we get home we will be working with the facilitator, and we do hope we can improve that work on the new constitution soon and there will be a referendum before we have fresh elections."

But Biti, who is Finance Minister in the coalition government, told reporters that, as far as both MDC factions are concerned, the constitution was a done deal.

"Three years were spent discussing the constitution," he pointed out, and the two MDCs did not accept Zanu-PF reopening those discussions. "When the Zanu-PF team negotiated with the MDCs, we assumed they had the authority from their party to do so."

Biti insisted that the constitution could not be amended here and there, because it all hung together as a coherent whole. He was unsure what the SADC could do to unblock this latest impasse.

Both MDCs wanted the referendum on the constitution to take place in October, Biti said.

He suggested that if there was no longer agreement with Zanu PF, perhaps the simplest thing to do would be to put both texts before the Zimbabwean electorate - the text agreed by negotiators of all three parties and the one Zanu PF is now writing on its own.

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