Masimirembwa and Mudenda, both technical experts seconded by their party to watch over the process, are in a pickle over the first four draft chapters published by the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) particularly as it refers to gay rights and war veterans.
The two men in effect accused the drafters of distorting the people’s views and inventing elements of what has been put in the first four chapters. In short, Zanu PF or a faction of Zanu PF is out to trash the constitution making process, and the reason for this is to stop the production of a democratic constitution.
Reading through the constitutional principles, as agreed to by the three main political parties in the ruling coalition, it is clear the road to democracy has widened.
From its actions, Zanu PF is trying, dangerously so, to deviate from the very principles of the struggle for liberation. What the commissars were preaching during the war is similar to what is contained in the principles adopted by COPAC which form part of the drafters’ instructions.
It is clear Zanu PF’s attack is not in defence of the people’s wishes but an attempt to enforce what the party leadership wants. They adulterated the 2000 draft constitution and now they are trying to trash this parliament-led process.
What the Zanu PF leadership wants today has massively shifted from the ideals of the liberation struggle. The COPAC list of constitutional principles captures the ideals that many Zimbabweans died for and suffered for before, during and after the liberation struggle.
Below is the list of principles which Zanu PF and the two MDC factions agreed should form the yardstick of a new constitution for Zimbabwe:
COPAC DRAFT CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLESSupremacy of the constitution.Recognition of Zimbabwe’s liberation, democracy, sovereignty of the state and its people.Recognition of the principle of separation of powers.Recognition of land and natural resources as belonging to all Zimbabweans.The constitution should contain mechanisms of redressing colonial imbalances in the distribution of natural resources including land.The new constitution must ensure the maintenance of unity, in diversity, peace, stability, security and prosperity for all the people of Zimbabwe.Recognition of the rule of law, good governance and democracy.Recognition that power to rule and govern must be derived from the authority of the people.The recognition of fundamental human rights.All organs of the state to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights and freedoms spelt out in the Bill of Rights.Recognition of the principle of decentralization.Recognition of the principle of devolution of power.Recognition of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in all spheres of governance.The recognition of the rights of children, the youth, the disabled, women, workers and vulnerable groups.The recognition of universal adult suffrage.The recognition of the importance of an electoral system that guarantees regular, free and fair and effective elections that ensure adequate representation of the electorate.Recognition of the importance of Bill of Rights by entrenching it in the constitution and its justiciability.Recognition of the principle of checks and balances among the levels of government and the Arms of the State.Recognition of the need for equitable resource sharing mechanisms.Recognition of the rights of racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious and political minorities.That the management of public finances should be informed by transparency, responsiveness, accountability, responsibility, integrity and equity.All arms of state to uphold the principles of democracy and good governance.Recognition of the principle of constitutional transition and orderly transfer of power.All Arms of State must uphold the constitution, respect human rights, be non-partisan and professional.The constitution must recognize the diversity of languages, customary practices and traditions and must seek to protect and promote these.The institution, status and role of traditional leadership, according to indigenous law, shall be spelt out and recognized in the constitution.From the so called National Report, it is clear that there are so many issues that are contradictory or not of a constitutional nature. To smooth over this, COPAC tasked a team of technical experts from Zanu PF, the MDCs and the chiefs to extract, from the outreach data, constitutional issues for the consideration of the Select Committee, headed by Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T), Paul Mangwana (Zanu PF) and Edward Mkhosi (MDC). This team included Masimirembwa and Fredy Gijima representing Zanu PF.

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They met at Pandhari in October 2011. The Pandhari list was further refined and adopted in Masvingo on October 31 to November 1, 2011. On the Pandhari document, Gijima put Zanu PF’s signature, Innocent Gonese put MDC-T’s, Chibaya Cosmas signed for the MDC while Chief Mtshane Khumalo represented the chiefs. It is clear when these four appended their signatures, they had clearance from their constituencies. This list contains raw constitutional issues as they appear in the outreach data. They were extracted as they came from the people.
After the Select Committee agreed on the constitutional issues extracted from the outreach data, it further tasked the technical team, at the HICC, to identify those issues that would actually make it into the constitution and those issues that would be catered for under legislation. This was done from November 14-122.
On this document of the technical team, Zanu PF’s signature was penned by none other than Jacob Mudenda while Gonese signed for MDC-T and Mahlamvana Tofa Angela approved for MDC. Masimirembwa and Mudenda were part of the Zanu PF team which included Gijima, July Moyo and Angela Mususa. The document was adopted by the Select Committee.
Using this document, the technical team was further given the task of identifying gaps and propose ways of filling them. This is understandable given that the outreach questionnaire was not exhaustive. In steering this technical team, Zanu PF’s Mudenda was co-chairing with MDC-T’s Kucaca Phulu and the other MDC’s Angela Mahlamvana.
From what the Chairpersons of COPAC said when drafting started in December 2011, it was clear the drafters would work with these documents. What the public now want is for COPAC to publish the following:
# The official outreach data# The list of constitutional issues extracted from this data and adopted by the Select Committee# The list of issues that were deemed fit to be included in the constitution and those for legislation# The official list of agreed constitutional principles# The list of those issues the committee has not agreed on# The draft chapters they have received and adopted from the three draftersThe nation feels short-changed by Zanu PF. It has used the public media to critique the draft chapters, negatively, as a way of trashing the constitution making process. Zanu PF is not sincere in this process as we see its functionaries who have been and are still part of the process trash it.
From COPAC, it is perhaps a good time for the nation to demand to know if it has a code of conduct. It looks like anyone can say anything on its behalf and attack the drafters, who cannot answer back, very publicly.
Masimirembwa and Mudenda are driving one of the key deliverables of the GPA into chaos. Technically, these two men are doing a hatchet job to destroy this process and it seems like this group is bent on making sure this country is ungovernable. They want to plunge the country into chaos and to lead to another political stalemate.

By Special correspondent

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