THE Constitution Parliamentary Committee (Copac) yesterday said it was investigating reasons for the low turn-out at its outreach meetings in Mashonaland East as the crucial phase to review the country’s supreme law continued to stutter.
Outreach meetings began two weeks ago in eight of the country’s 10 provinces and will end next month. The programme has been dogged by logistical problems and fears of an outbreak of violence.

Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) yesterday said he had received reports that villagers snubbed meetings in Goromonzi.

“We have been advised that there was terrible apathy in Goromonzi,” Mwonzora said.
“Reports are that there was a very low turn-out generally and we don’t know why this is so.
“We will have to look at that.”

Outreach meetings in Goromonzi started yesterday.

A visit to the area on Friday showed that while some people seemed genuinely ignorant of the process, others simply did not care.

People who professed ignorance of the outreach meetings included members of the Apostolic sect who of late have been taking a leading role in programmes involving Zanu PF.

Teachers and students at one big school in the area also said they did not know anything about the process.

Some people sharing a complex with the District Administrator (DA) also professed ignorance of activities around the outreach.

At Goromonzi shopping centre, a group of women and some youths sitting at a veranda of a shop which had the Copac schedule of meetings to be held in the area pasted on one of its walls, pointed to another distant shop saying that was where they had seen the Copac notice although they did not bother to read it.

“We saw their poster pasted on the wall of a shop over there,” one of the women said. “Vane shungu nazvo ndivo vari kuenda (those who care about the meetings are attending).”

When The Standard drew the group’s attention to the poster close to them, one of the youths laughed saying, “Uku ndiko kunonzi kugarira constitution yacho, tingadii? (We are sitting on the constitution, what else can we do?).

Mwonzora said Copac may have to re-organise the meetings.

“If we find out that people were genuinely unaware of the meetings, we will re-do the meetings but if we establish that they knew but consciously decided not to attend, then we are done with that area.
“I personally suspect that people may be reacting to something — it could be intimidation or being forced to endorse something.

“The level of apathy in Mashonaland East is terrible and people on the ground have suggested that we review the method of calling for the meetings.”

He said it has been suggested that they set up a tripartite committee comprising members from the main political parties in the area which will liase with the district administrator’s office to mobilise people for the meetings.

Although Copac earlier in the week denied that there was any violence around the constitution at the moment, Mwonzora yesterday said they had received reports that people were being intimidated in some areas ahead of the arrival of the outreach teams.

He said the issue is among others set to be discussed at a review meeting to be held tomorrow, adding that it was difficult for Copac to control the intimidators.

Civic organisation representatives said there have been cases of violence, arrests and abductions in Chinhoyi, Mutare and Marondera respectively.

By Bloomberg