Opinion / Letters
Open letter to all Copac Co-Chairpersons
24 Nov 2011 at 05:46hrs | Views
To : Hon Paul Mangwana (ZANU-PF)
Hon Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T)
Hon Edward Mkhosi –Moyo (MDC)
From: Concerned Zimbabweans
Date: 20 November 2011.
REF : OPEN LETTER TO ALL COPAC CO-CHAIRPERSONS.
We would like first of all like to salute you as COPAC co- chairpersons for the courageous work and leadership you have exhibited over the past two years in the ongoing work of re-writing a democratic constitution for the people of Zimbabwe. The process, has indeed been really necessary, given that the current constitutional document we are using was not written by the people of Zimbabwe and therefore did not take into account the wishes and aspirations of a people as a whole. The letter we are writing today is a culmination of consultations and serious engagements which have been taking place over the past two weeks in some parts of the country, particularly on the emotive issue of gay rights. The views contained herein, therefore reflect the feelings of the people in urban and rural areas.
Honorable leaders, most people here in Zimbabwe and abroad who have been closely following the constitutional debate are familiar with the enormous challenges you came across and eventually overcame as you undertook this most important exercise, and these ranged from inadequate financial resources to the highly polarized political environment which has been prevailing in Zimbabwe over the past years. Driven by the need to see your country returning to normalcy and eventually being accepted into the global community, you managed to put aside your political differences and led from the front.
We write this open letter to you, primarily as ordinary concerned citizens of this country, who are greatly worried about rights of some minority groups which we note are about to be trampled simply because they are in the minority. We are greatly disturbed about this phenomenon, because if left unchecked, it has the capacity of sowing seeds of intolerance in our society, where those who hold divergent views about certain aspects in life or act in a different fashion which does not conform to the majority views or traditional values risk being stoned to death like what used to happen in ancient Greece or sentenced to life in jail by those in power. We have plenty of examples of such cases and Nigeria is one country where there is such intolerance.
Before we tackle this contentious issue, we would like to state emphatically, that the majority of us as Concerned Citizens are Christians and next month on the 25th , we will be celebrating with billions other people of this world the birth of Jesus Christ. In April, we always mark the date upon which our messiah was crucified. These are some of the things we religiously do as Christians, but that does not mean that if we see a brother who is Islam, we kill .We value other people's religious opinions. Further to that, we are Africanists, who believe in the true African life which is informed and embroiled by values such as 'ubuntu, hunhu, harambee and ujamahaa.' We do not shy away from that, for this is whom we are.
Having said that, we must also state that we are cognisant, that the governance structure which has become accepted all over the world today is democracy. Even Arabic states have come to that realization, hence the Arabic uprisings which we saw not so long ago in Egypt and Tunisia. Quite clearly if this is the route we are supposed to take, and then some of us are worried by statements emanating from Zanu-PF, especially regarding the issue of gays. We speak on their behalf (Gays and Lesbians) ,because we are aware that they are afraid of coming out in the open because of the nature of our society .We are also motivated to speak on their behalf because of the democratic ideals we cherish to the fullest. We are fully aware of the responses that will surely emanate as a consequence of our position particularly from the media and society at large, but we are not worried and do not care about that. Our driving principle is, we are much more concerned by that single individual who is being downtrodden and whose rights being taken away from him/her. Hon Chairperson's, if all of us were to have such a philosophical grounding, wouldn't this be a better world to live in? We imagine.
In our view, Gays and Lesbians are a minority who deserve the care and attention of the Government of the day. Though our knowledge on natural science is limited, we strongly believe that there is a scientific explanation to their deviant behavior. We refuse to condemn them for we are not their makers and moreover we don't know their motivation in engaging in such activities. We would like to urge every one of us take a leaf from the life and experiences of Jesus Christ whom when confronted by Pharisees as to why he was letting Mary Magdalene a known prostitute by then beside him ,he responded by saying 'Let he who has no sin, cast a stone'. The lesson is very simple, that we should not be anyone's judges.
The challenge of raising an African child, who is not tainted by all these kind of things, who values the principles of ubuntu, hunhu, harambee and ujamahaa, rests with the parents, teachers and the society at large. It is not the constitution which will mould the African children. Is it not ironic therefore that a parent would let his/her child to watch western movies on DSTV, where that child will obviously be exposed bad influences and the parent must now turn to the constitution and the state in general to make the child conform to African values. As we grew up, we were taught that charity begins at home. We therefore appeal to political parties not to lead the people of Zimbabwe astray on non-pertinent issues.
As concerned Zimbabwean's issues which require urgent attention are the following:
• Alarming proportions of child sexual abuses
• Gender violence
• Rape and
• Death penalty and
• An end to all politically motivated violence
We hope and pray that you will not budge to any political rhetoric and will continue to do your work as instructed by the Global Political Agreement Principals (GPA), to draft a constitution which will serve all future generations.
Zimbabwe is for all, regardless of race, culture, religion, sexual orientation and ethnicity. Let us protect the minority groups, even those that we did not mention here and we would like to re-emphasize that the current constitutional process should not be a platform for campaigning by political parties.
Concerned Zimbabweans (Contact Person: Freedom Mazwi, a human rights campaigner)
Issued on the 21st of November 2011 @ 11: 45 am
Hon Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T)
Hon Edward Mkhosi –Moyo (MDC)
From: Concerned Zimbabweans
Date: 20 November 2011.
REF : OPEN LETTER TO ALL COPAC CO-CHAIRPERSONS.
We would like first of all like to salute you as COPAC co- chairpersons for the courageous work and leadership you have exhibited over the past two years in the ongoing work of re-writing a democratic constitution for the people of Zimbabwe. The process, has indeed been really necessary, given that the current constitutional document we are using was not written by the people of Zimbabwe and therefore did not take into account the wishes and aspirations of a people as a whole. The letter we are writing today is a culmination of consultations and serious engagements which have been taking place over the past two weeks in some parts of the country, particularly on the emotive issue of gay rights. The views contained herein, therefore reflect the feelings of the people in urban and rural areas.
Honorable leaders, most people here in Zimbabwe and abroad who have been closely following the constitutional debate are familiar with the enormous challenges you came across and eventually overcame as you undertook this most important exercise, and these ranged from inadequate financial resources to the highly polarized political environment which has been prevailing in Zimbabwe over the past years. Driven by the need to see your country returning to normalcy and eventually being accepted into the global community, you managed to put aside your political differences and led from the front.
We write this open letter to you, primarily as ordinary concerned citizens of this country, who are greatly worried about rights of some minority groups which we note are about to be trampled simply because they are in the minority. We are greatly disturbed about this phenomenon, because if left unchecked, it has the capacity of sowing seeds of intolerance in our society, where those who hold divergent views about certain aspects in life or act in a different fashion which does not conform to the majority views or traditional values risk being stoned to death like what used to happen in ancient Greece or sentenced to life in jail by those in power. We have plenty of examples of such cases and Nigeria is one country where there is such intolerance.
Before we tackle this contentious issue, we would like to state emphatically, that the majority of us as Concerned Citizens are Christians and next month on the 25th , we will be celebrating with billions other people of this world the birth of Jesus Christ. In April, we always mark the date upon which our messiah was crucified. These are some of the things we religiously do as Christians, but that does not mean that if we see a brother who is Islam, we kill .We value other people's religious opinions. Further to that, we are Africanists, who believe in the true African life which is informed and embroiled by values such as 'ubuntu, hunhu, harambee and ujamahaa.' We do not shy away from that, for this is whom we are.
Having said that, we must also state that we are cognisant, that the governance structure which has become accepted all over the world today is democracy. Even Arabic states have come to that realization, hence the Arabic uprisings which we saw not so long ago in Egypt and Tunisia. Quite clearly if this is the route we are supposed to take, and then some of us are worried by statements emanating from Zanu-PF, especially regarding the issue of gays. We speak on their behalf (Gays and Lesbians) ,because we are aware that they are afraid of coming out in the open because of the nature of our society .We are also motivated to speak on their behalf because of the democratic ideals we cherish to the fullest. We are fully aware of the responses that will surely emanate as a consequence of our position particularly from the media and society at large, but we are not worried and do not care about that. Our driving principle is, we are much more concerned by that single individual who is being downtrodden and whose rights being taken away from him/her. Hon Chairperson's, if all of us were to have such a philosophical grounding, wouldn't this be a better world to live in? We imagine.
In our view, Gays and Lesbians are a minority who deserve the care and attention of the Government of the day. Though our knowledge on natural science is limited, we strongly believe that there is a scientific explanation to their deviant behavior. We refuse to condemn them for we are not their makers and moreover we don't know their motivation in engaging in such activities. We would like to urge every one of us take a leaf from the life and experiences of Jesus Christ whom when confronted by Pharisees as to why he was letting Mary Magdalene a known prostitute by then beside him ,he responded by saying 'Let he who has no sin, cast a stone'. The lesson is very simple, that we should not be anyone's judges.
The challenge of raising an African child, who is not tainted by all these kind of things, who values the principles of ubuntu, hunhu, harambee and ujamahaa, rests with the parents, teachers and the society at large. It is not the constitution which will mould the African children. Is it not ironic therefore that a parent would let his/her child to watch western movies on DSTV, where that child will obviously be exposed bad influences and the parent must now turn to the constitution and the state in general to make the child conform to African values. As we grew up, we were taught that charity begins at home. We therefore appeal to political parties not to lead the people of Zimbabwe astray on non-pertinent issues.
As concerned Zimbabwean's issues which require urgent attention are the following:
• Alarming proportions of child sexual abuses
• Gender violence
• Rape and
• Death penalty and
• An end to all politically motivated violence
We hope and pray that you will not budge to any political rhetoric and will continue to do your work as instructed by the Global Political Agreement Principals (GPA), to draft a constitution which will serve all future generations.
Zimbabwe is for all, regardless of race, culture, religion, sexual orientation and ethnicity. Let us protect the minority groups, even those that we did not mention here and we would like to re-emphasize that the current constitutional process should not be a platform for campaigning by political parties.
Concerned Zimbabweans (Contact Person: Freedom Mazwi, a human rights campaigner)
Issued on the 21st of November 2011 @ 11: 45 am
Source - Concerned Zimbabweans
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