Army steps up violence

A parliamentary committee charged with drafting the countrys new constitution last week suspended public consultations on the proposed charter due to political bickering over funding in a development that dealt a fresh blow to hopes for free and fair elections next year as initially planned. “The management committee has suspended the outreach programme for

now, mainly because of financial constraints,” Douglas Mwonzora, who co-chairs the committee, told the media last week. Mwonzora, a legislator from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party, said there were also differences with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) on who should be collecting views on the constitution.

Rapporteur

“There are also disagreements that we need to resolve before the process can go forward that have to do with identifying and agreeing on who should be a rapporteur as well as addressing the issues around funding,” Mwonzora said. The suspension is the latest in a series of delays that included clashes last July between MDC-T and Zanu (PF) delegates at a

constitutional convention. The credibility of the exercise has also been tainted by reports of alleged intimidation by soldiers and Zanu (PF) supporters who want to shove down the villagers throats a draft constitutional document which seeks to entrench Mugabes stranglehold on power which is favoured by Zanu (PF).

Partisan army officers are allegedly threatening villagers with violence unless they endorse a draft supreme law agreed by negotiators from the three main parties in the resort town of Kariba in September 2007. The MDC-T has since disowned the so-called Kariba Draft in favour of a people-driven constitutional reform process. Scared villagers said they are being told by the soldiers that the Kariba Draft document was Zimbabwe’s new constitution and that there was nothing to discuss.

Air Commodore

London-based SW Radio Africa reported last week named one of the soldiers as Airforce of Zimbabwes Air Commodore Innocent Chiganze who it said was among several military officers leading a campaign to force villagers in Manicaland to attend Zanu (PF) political meetings where they are told to in the province. The soldiers are apparently working in cahoots with suspected Zanu (PF) youth militias who conduct door-to-door invitations to attend the meetings. Serving members of the army are not allowed to get involved in the drafting of the constitution, a requirement that prompted the MDC-T to push for the removal of brigadier general Douglas Nyikayaramba who had been appointed to chair one of the thematic committees to facilitate public debate on the proposed supreme law.

The meetings with the soldiers are meant to preempt the work of outreach teams set up by the parliamentary select committee on the new constitution. The committee has suspended the deployment of outreach teams to all the countrys 10 provinces which were due to conduct public consultations. Law experts say the Kariba draft is a mere extension of the current

constitution and will further entrench Mugabes stranglehold on Zimbabwe. The veteran leader, 86 next month, will be able to serve another two terms and probably die in office to avoid prosecution for rights abuses if his Zanu (PF) party gets its way in sneaking the disputed Kariba draft constitution.

Mugabe tenure

According to the Kariba draft, the president would be limited to two five-year terms but the proposed supreme law is silent on the tenure already served by Mugabe who has led Zimbabwe since the southern African countrys independence from Britain in 1980. The tenure of the incumbent as president prior to the proposed new constitution would not be counted. Western countries led by the United States and Britain have demanded far-reaching political reforms in Harare before releasing economic aid. Analysts say Mugabe is aware that his political survival is at risk once he agrees to a new democratic constitution that would drastically clip his powers. The problems in finalising the constitutional reform exercise is

expected to delay the holding of Zimbabwes fresh elections as agreed by the parties in 2008.

Under the September 2008 Global Political Agreement between Zanu (PF) and the two MDC formations, Zimbabwe is supposed to hold new elections in early 2011 after the passing of the new constitution. Zimbabwe needs a new constitution before it holds another election to take over from the transitional government formed last February following the intervention of the Southern African Development Community.