Mugabe to announce election dates with or without new constitution

Zimbabwe does not have a constitutional vacuum and President Robert Mugabe will announce election dates at the appropriate time, with or without a new constitution, Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said.

He added that the departure of the president for the Far East for his traditional annual leave would not in any way affect the meeting of principals to discuss the impasse on the draft constitution.

"Even if the President was in the country, there was no requirement that the principals should meet before Christmas.

Whether or not there is progress, it has nothing to do with the President being in the country or not and has nothing to do with the President calling for elections," Charamba said.

This comes as the Cabinet Committee tasked to break the impasse on constitution-making yesterday resolved to refer outstanding matters to the principals after finding common ground on only 2 of the 30 contentious issues.

However, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga refused to reveal the issues the 7-member committee had agreed on.