News / National
Copac kicks off again, hopefully
03 May 2011 at 07:31hrs | Views
HARARE - THE Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) has amid confusion kicked off again at the Harare International Conference Centre.
COPAC – one of the "major deliverables" of the fragile Global Political Agreement commenced with a training workshop for Thematic Committee Teams at the Sheraton Hotel.
This follows the data capturing and collation of date which took place a month ago and training for Thematic Committee Rapoturers.
Officially opening the session which is jointly facilitated by Professor Hope Sadza and Professor Pheneas Makhurane – Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs Minister Advocate Erick Matinenga urged the participants drawn from MDC T, MDC N, Zanu PF and the civic society to work as a team.
He also made it clear that the major outcome of the process will be provincial reports of what the people said during the volatile outreach process that started on June 24 2010 and ended in October 2011.
"You must be tolerant, objective and humble during the discharge of your duties. If you fail at this stage, you will fail the drafter and if the drafters fail, then Zimbabwe will have failed to produce a new constitution.
"This is one of the major deliverables of the Global Political Agreement that the three major political partiers in Government agreed to," he said.
Addressing the same gathering COPAC co-chairperson and Zanu PF legislator Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana shocked the gallery hen he openly congratulated MDC T's Dougklus Monzora for winning his party's information and publicity's post.
He however continued to state that for the process to go well, the shaky inclusive government must work hand in glove in ensuring that there is funding for it.
"For us to achieve our set goals as the Select Committee, the Government must ensure that it assists us by addressing the challenges we face, most importantly the issue of funding.
Then the he advised the thematic committee teams that their duty was to debate discuss and agree and or disagree as comrades during the process as unity of purpose was key.
The Thematic Committee teams will have to discuss, debate, collate and or disagree on views collected during the outreach process conducted nationwide in Zimbabwe, in the Diaspora, in Parliament and from several special interest groups.
COPAC has been operating in a chaotic fashion ever since its birth. The process was riddled with confusion and lack of knowledge on what was happening. There was also no funding for it and this saw its members being chucked out of hotels and many service providers abandoned it.
From the thematic committee stage taking place with effect fro today, the drafting committee will seat and after that a draft will be produced, which draft will be subject to a referendum. – After which elections will be held in Zimbabwe.
COPAC – one of the "major deliverables" of the fragile Global Political Agreement commenced with a training workshop for Thematic Committee Teams at the Sheraton Hotel.
This follows the data capturing and collation of date which took place a month ago and training for Thematic Committee Rapoturers.
Officially opening the session which is jointly facilitated by Professor Hope Sadza and Professor Pheneas Makhurane – Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs Minister Advocate Erick Matinenga urged the participants drawn from MDC T, MDC N, Zanu PF and the civic society to work as a team.
He also made it clear that the major outcome of the process will be provincial reports of what the people said during the volatile outreach process that started on June 24 2010 and ended in October 2011.
"You must be tolerant, objective and humble during the discharge of your duties. If you fail at this stage, you will fail the drafter and if the drafters fail, then Zimbabwe will have failed to produce a new constitution.
"This is one of the major deliverables of the Global Political Agreement that the three major political partiers in Government agreed to," he said.
Addressing the same gathering COPAC co-chairperson and Zanu PF legislator Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana shocked the gallery hen he openly congratulated MDC T's Dougklus Monzora for winning his party's information and publicity's post.
He however continued to state that for the process to go well, the shaky inclusive government must work hand in glove in ensuring that there is funding for it.
"For us to achieve our set goals as the Select Committee, the Government must ensure that it assists us by addressing the challenges we face, most importantly the issue of funding.
Then the he advised the thematic committee teams that their duty was to debate discuss and agree and or disagree as comrades during the process as unity of purpose was key.
The Thematic Committee teams will have to discuss, debate, collate and or disagree on views collected during the outreach process conducted nationwide in Zimbabwe, in the Diaspora, in Parliament and from several special interest groups.
COPAC has been operating in a chaotic fashion ever since its birth. The process was riddled with confusion and lack of knowledge on what was happening. There was also no funding for it and this saw its members being chucked out of hotels and many service providers abandoned it.
From the thematic committee stage taking place with effect fro today, the drafting committee will seat and after that a draft will be produced, which draft will be subject to a referendum. – After which elections will be held in Zimbabwe.
Source - Zim Scribes
