News / Local
MDC-T, Zanu PF attacked for 'distorting' the meaning of devolution of power
15 Feb 2012 at 17:09hrs | Views
The Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF have come under heavy attack from other opposition political parties for allegedly conniving to "distort" what devolution of power is and discard the issue of having proportional representation in the new constitution.
Copac sources who requested anonymity, have said the two political parties have decided and agreed to have elected but powerless provincial governors who report to the central government and to have the first past the post electoral system instead of proportional representation.
The draft constitution is out, though not yet public.
This, the sources said, is being done in outright disregard of what the people said during the Copac Outreach process, because both MDC T and Zanu PF believe that that they are popular and can win elections under the current set up without any hustle.
The move is meant to shut out the possibility of the smaller MDC formation led by Welshman Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa's Zapu from getting any parliamentary seats via the proportional representation.
Under the post electoral system, the winner with the largest number of votes, gets all and the loser nothing, whereas under proportional representation, parliamentary seats are shares in accordance with the percentage of votes that a political party gets in an elections.
Copac co-chairpersons, Munyaradzi Mangwana, Douglas Mwonzora and Edward Mkhosi could not be reached for comment as they were reportedly in marathon meetings.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo has dismissed the reports are baseless.
"There is nothing like that. Our drafters stand by what the people said and there is no way they can subvert or distort the will of the people," he said.
Zapu and MDC argue that the majority of Zimbabweans said they wanted proportional representation and devolution of power.
In the said devolution of power, governors must be elected and have regional autonomy and independent provincial governments.
MDC-T's deputy secretary for information and publicity Thabitha Khumalo refused to comment on the matter and went on a tirade against Ncube who she accused of concocting the allegations to solicit for public sympathy and relevance.
"Angisoze ngibe ngikhuluma ngento zika Welshman. That is rubbish meant to get public sympathy for Welshman ebantwini," she said.
The director of communications and information in Dabengwa's Zapu Methuseli Moyo lambasted MDC T for going to bed with Zanu PF to produce something wrong.
He said: "From what we are hearing, it glaring that Zanu PF and MDC T have gone to agreed to go to bed and subvert the will of the people.
"MDC T has been infected with the Zanu PF demon of disregarding everything that people say. That is why they have of late become so violent," he said.
He added that the two political parties must expect resistance from Zapu and other "progressive" forces.
"They (MDC T and Zanu PF) must never hallucinate about getting away with this fraud; we are going to mobilize for the resistance of their scandal. What we have always said that MDC T wants to be Zanu PF has been confirmed.
"Copac must only expect an emphatic No Vote in the referendum because it has superintended over the theft and distortion of public views," he said.
Nhlanhla Dube from Ncube's MDC sang from the same resistance hymn book with Moyo. Dube said, "We will resist any attempts by Zanu PF and her baby, MDC T to distort what the people said. We have gotten such reports of attempts by the two parties to smuggle what was never said into the new constitution draft and we have accordingly instructed our drafters to resist such machinations at all costs.
"We took part in the outreach and so did the two parties, we now wonder what has gotten into them to cause them to want to do things their way and not the people's way," he said.
The Constitutional parliamentary Select Committee started work on 24 June 2010 last year with a nationwide consultative outreach process. That was followed by the data capturing process and compilation of the ward, district, provincial and national qualitative and quantitative reports on what was said during the outreach.
The process has been marred with confusion and despite its heavy funding.
Copac sources who requested anonymity, have said the two political parties have decided and agreed to have elected but powerless provincial governors who report to the central government and to have the first past the post electoral system instead of proportional representation.
The draft constitution is out, though not yet public.
This, the sources said, is being done in outright disregard of what the people said during the Copac Outreach process, because both MDC T and Zanu PF believe that that they are popular and can win elections under the current set up without any hustle.
The move is meant to shut out the possibility of the smaller MDC formation led by Welshman Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa's Zapu from getting any parliamentary seats via the proportional representation.
Under the post electoral system, the winner with the largest number of votes, gets all and the loser nothing, whereas under proportional representation, parliamentary seats are shares in accordance with the percentage of votes that a political party gets in an elections.
Copac co-chairpersons, Munyaradzi Mangwana, Douglas Mwonzora and Edward Mkhosi could not be reached for comment as they were reportedly in marathon meetings.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo has dismissed the reports are baseless.
"There is nothing like that. Our drafters stand by what the people said and there is no way they can subvert or distort the will of the people," he said.
Zapu and MDC argue that the majority of Zimbabweans said they wanted proportional representation and devolution of power.
In the said devolution of power, governors must be elected and have regional autonomy and independent provincial governments.
"Angisoze ngibe ngikhuluma ngento zika Welshman. That is rubbish meant to get public sympathy for Welshman ebantwini," she said.
The director of communications and information in Dabengwa's Zapu Methuseli Moyo lambasted MDC T for going to bed with Zanu PF to produce something wrong.
He said: "From what we are hearing, it glaring that Zanu PF and MDC T have gone to agreed to go to bed and subvert the will of the people.
"MDC T has been infected with the Zanu PF demon of disregarding everything that people say. That is why they have of late become so violent," he said.
He added that the two political parties must expect resistance from Zapu and other "progressive" forces.
"They (MDC T and Zanu PF) must never hallucinate about getting away with this fraud; we are going to mobilize for the resistance of their scandal. What we have always said that MDC T wants to be Zanu PF has been confirmed.
"Copac must only expect an emphatic No Vote in the referendum because it has superintended over the theft and distortion of public views," he said.
Nhlanhla Dube from Ncube's MDC sang from the same resistance hymn book with Moyo. Dube said, "We will resist any attempts by Zanu PF and her baby, MDC T to distort what the people said. We have gotten such reports of attempts by the two parties to smuggle what was never said into the new constitution draft and we have accordingly instructed our drafters to resist such machinations at all costs.
"We took part in the outreach and so did the two parties, we now wonder what has gotten into them to cause them to want to do things their way and not the people's way," he said.
The Constitutional parliamentary Select Committee started work on 24 June 2010 last year with a nationwide consultative outreach process. That was followed by the data capturing process and compilation of the ward, district, provincial and national qualitative and quantitative reports on what was said during the outreach.
The process has been marred with confusion and despite its heavy funding.
Source - Byo24News
