Zanu-PF takes constitution fight to rural areas

Zanu-PF has already started campaigning for victory in the impending referendum for its draft constitution that has been rejected by the two MDC parties, taking their campaign to rural areas.

The party is urging people to snub the Copac-proposed draft constitution. The amended draft was produced by Zanu-PF's politburo, the party's supreme decision making body outside congress, following marathon meetings to scrutinise the Copac document.

On Thursday, Monica Mutsvangwa Labour deputy minister told hundreds of Zanu-PF supporters at St Andrews Primary School in Zhombe that the Copac draft constitution was an imperialist document which made a mockery of the liberation struggle and excluded people's views during the outreach process.

Mutsvangwa was flanked by Minister of State for Special Affairs in the President's Office Flora Buka and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa's wife, Auxilia.

"The MDC wanted to trick us by bringing their own document which excluded what the people said but when it was handed to the politburo we sat down and realised that the people's views had been left out, or twisted to suit the imperialists," said Mutsvangwa.

Mutsvangwa, who is also a Zanu-PF Senator, said Zanu-PF would stick to its guns and was prepared to go to the next election using the old constitution if the MDC's do not give in.

"If we can't agree on what the people said, then we will go to the next election using the old constitution because as the people's party we will not allow your voices to be submerged," she said.

Although Zanu-PF, led by Copac co â€"chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana signed the draft constitution which was handed to the party principals, Mutsvangwa said it was alien to her party.

"Nobody spoke about devolution, we all agreed that we wanted a unified Zimbabwe . . . MDC also wants to smuggle in issues of same sex marriage. We can't have that in the country that is not why the liberation struggle was fought for," she said.

Both MDC's have dug in, saying they are not willing to renegotiate the Copac draft constitution and have instead insisted that the draft should be taken to the second All Stakeholders' Conference before it is put to a referendum.

"The MDC's position is clear, we will not accept Zanu-PF's draft constitution, Zanu-PF did not only propose amendments they rewrote the constitution," said MDC-T spokesperson and Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora.