Zimbabwe's constitution will involve a lot of compromise

THE much-awaited final draft of the new constitution is expected next month as Copac starts the final phase of drafting the  document and Copac co-chairperson, Mr Douglas Mwonzora, said the writing of the new constitution would involve a lot of compromises, especially by the three main political parties - Zanu-PF, MDC and MDC-T.

Copac co-chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said yesterday that the document would be put to a referendum early next year.

Mangwana was speaking on the sidelines of a pre-drafting workshop for the new constitution held at Great Zimbabwe.

There are challenges ranging from lack of adequate finances and disputes among the three main political parties involved in the writing of the new constitution.

Mangwana said Copac required a further US$4,6 million from Government to hold the Second All Stakeholders' Conference.

He said they convened the pre-drafting seminar attended by legal experts and social scientists to make sure drafters give a legal interpretation to what the people said.

Another Copac co-chairperson, Mr Douglas Mwonzora, said the writing of the new constitution would involve a lot of compromises, especially by the three main political parties - Zanu-PF, MDC and MDC-T.

"We are not going to come up with a draft document that pleases everyone," he said. "Some will be happy about some aspects of the new constitution and also disappointed about other aspects. No political point will have its way throughout and when such a situation obtains then we know we have a good draft constitution."

During the two-day pre-drafting seminar, Copac would come up with a framework for drafting the new constitution and extraction of constitutional issues.