Morris Mkwate  and Kuda Bwititi
The Zanu-PF Politburo has endorsed a huge portion of the final draft constitution but proposed amendments to several contentious clauses while the two MDC formations adopted the document in its entirety.
Zanu-PF’s supreme decision-making organ outside congress formulated the position at a 14-hour meeting which only ended after 2am yesterday. The MDC-T national executive council met later in the day.

Zanu-PF constitution management committee member Cde Patrick Chinamasa said the Politburo tasked party representatives on the panel to collate the amendments into a comprehensive document. He said the organ will meet again this Wednesday to finalise its position, after which the proposed changes would be tabled before the management committee.
Among the contested areas are national objectives and foundations; the significance of the liberation struggle; the appointment of provincial governors; the establishment of the constitutional court; the deployment of defence forces outside the country and the proposed restructuring of the Attorney-General’s Office.

Debate on a section dealing with the nomination of presidential candidates and their running mates will also be concluded at the crucial meeting. “It was a no-holds-barred debate and very robust. It was very constructive. We went through almost line by line (of the draft),” said Cde Chinamasa, who is also Justice and Legal Affairs Minister.

“The major yardstick against which the document was viewed and critiqued was to the extent to which it remained faithful to the views of the people as expressed during the outreach.
“Most of the debate drew us negotiators where there were deviations. We were asked to renegotiate and realign the document with the public views. On the whole, 97 percent of the document has been endorsed by the Politburo.

“We are going to engage our colleagues in the management committee over the party position. Our expectation is they will accept these proposals to improve the draft. The Politburo and Zanu-PF are committed to seeing this process through. A lot of resources have been expended; we cannot afford to see the process come to naught.”

According to Cde Chinamasa, Politburo members felt the draft provisions on national objectives and foundations do not place “enough weight” against the role of the country’s struggle against colonialism and imperialism. They also opined the liberation struggle was not clearly recognised as the cornerstone of the modern Zimbabwean nation.

Liberation values should permeate the two chapters, resolved the Politburo, which also wants the national thrust of economically empowering indigenous Zimbabweans to become evident in the document.
The organ rejected a provision advocating an alternative appointment procedure for provincial governors and resident ministers.

The procedure allows a party with the highest number of seats in a given constituency to nominate two candidates, one of whom will be appointed by the President.
“This was rejected outright for the reason that it brings disharmony in a unitary state,” said Cde Chinamasa. “It allows centrifugal forces to be in ascendancy as opposed to centripetal forces. The Politburo is of the strong mind that the status quo should be maintained.

“The clear understanding on provincial governors is that he or she is the representative of the President in a province and not of political parties. He or she is the link between the people in the province and the centre as headed by the President. It is important that harmony and coherence be maintained in the interest of the country and development.”
The Politburo also rejected the inclusion of 10 additional members into provincial councils via a party system anchored on proportional representation. Presently, the councils, established under the Provincial Administration Act, are headed by provincial governors.

The status quo should remain, according to the party. It also emphasised harmony between the functions of local authorities and national plans and objectives. The draft constitution also proposes the establishment of a special court to deal with constitutional matters.
However, the meeting proposed the scrapping of this provision, saying the obtaining arrangement serves the country better.

Under the existing set up, the Supreme Court constitutes itself into a constitutional court comprising five judges when dealing with constitutional cases.
In addition, the draft seeks to empower Parliament to approve the deployment of defence forces outside the country.
Again, the Politburo shot down this provision “because in defence matters, you do not do stupid things like that”. The party organ also noted that rescinding

deployment would jeopardise the concerned forces’ security.

Regarding a proposal to abolish the office of the Public Protector and its replacement with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, it was resolved that the office should remain in place as it performs unique functions.
On the proposed establishment of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Cde Chinamasa said: “The strong view was that there was no basis or justification for the creation of additional commissions.

“The draft also sought to split the functions and Office of the Attorney-General into two, one office being that of the Prosecutor General whose responsibility would be to carry out criminal prosecutions. The AG was left to be the principal legal advisor and to represent Government in civil litigation. The feeling was that the status quo should be maintained because it has served the country well.”

He added that the meeting also debated the provision relating to the nomination of presidential candidates and running mates and resolved to take a position on Wednesday.

In terms of the proposed constitution, each presidential candidate’s nomination papers should include two vice-presidents as running mates in order of rank.
The management committee member and Zanu-PF Global Political Agreement (GPA) negotiator said this would bring certainty to Executive succession. “Obviously, it is expected that before the presidential candidate and vice-presidents present themselves, their respective parties would have endorsed them.”

Regarding amendments relating to chiefs, he said: “. . .We also think chiefs should have a representative on the Judicial Services Commission. They are a lower tier of the justice delivery system. Their jurisdiction over land matters is being actively considered and a decision will be taken in future.” Asked about the management committee’s deviation from the national report containing public views collected during the outreach, Cde Chinamasa said this emerged as efforts were made to accommodate the interests of parties to the GPA.

He said the procedure for the appointment of provincial governors and a section on the composition of provincial councils were the notable deviations while other matters were technical. He said the national report was not widely publicised because the two MDC formations refused to sign it as public opinion ran contrary to their respective interests.

“The national report was produced, but not really publicised. To have it publicised, we needed the signatures of the three Constitution Select Committee (Copac) co-chairs.

“The co-chairs from the MDC formations refused to sign. As far as we are concerned as Zanu-PF, the national report is the yardstick around which the constitution was crafted.
“That it was not published would not stop us from using it as a yardstick.” The MDC-T national executive council adopted the draft yesterday, saying it captured public sentiment.

In a statement soon after the council meeting, party spokesman Mr Douglas Mwonzora said provisions on citizenship, strengthening Parliament, devolution of power and the creation of independent commissions were satisfactory. He said the party also welcomed the expansion of the Bill of Rights.
“After extensive deliberations, the executive committee was satisfied that the draft constitution essentially captures the views of the people of Zimbabwe and represents an incremental gain in the democratisation process.

“The Bill of Rights in the draft is the highest in Africa…there is an expanded and comprehensive Bill of Rights that guarantees equality of all persons and now provides for economic, social and cultural rights to include the rights of children and workers.”
MDC secretary-general Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said yesterday: “We have endorsed the draft because it was a process borne out of negotiation. “We negotiated every full stop and every comma in the draft. So, we are very happy with the final outcome.”

The management committee overseeing the crafting of a new constitution produced the final draft on July 18. The document was subsequently submitted to the inclusive Government principals for consideration.
Once the draft has been finalised, it will be tabled before a Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference, comprising players of different sectors.

It will also be presented to Parliament after which a referendum will follow.