Briefing journalists on the position of his party to the draft constitution which was recently completed by COPAC, MDC 99 leader Job Sikhala said the draft constitution should not be taken seriously as it sought “take Zimbabwe back to the stone Age” in some of its clauses.
He said his party is calling on SADC to immediately call for the Zimbabwe Conflict Resolution Conference, where a new transitional document will be agreed upon before the country holds elections. Sikhala said failure to hold such a conference will result in his party joining campaigning for a “NO” vote in the referendum.
“There must be a transitional democratic constitutional order, make a transitional constitution which will specifically deal with the democratic electoral framework and elections roadmap. This is the only route available to Zimbabweans”, said Sikhala.
He said his political party was unhappy with a number of provisions in the draft which include the bloated parliament, the exclusion of other public officials from adhering to term limits.
He said by agitating for a “No” vote, his party was not playing into ZANU-PF hands which is dithering on its position on the new constitution, saying his party maintains that Zimbabweans can only hold the next elections with a new constitution a position different from ZANU-PF which wants to push for an election using the old constitution.
ZANU-PF has been dithering on whether to endorse the draft constitution or nor despite having earlier announced through its leader in the negotiation process Patrick Chinamasa revealing that 97 percent had endorsed the new document. However hi assertions were trashed when ZANU-PF held a 16 hour long politburo meeting on Wednesday which failed to come up with a position.
The mainstream MDC-T party has since endorsed the new draft constitution together with MDC-N and is pushing for a “YES” vote in the coming referendum. The civic society has remained tightlipped with only the National Constitutional Assembly rejecting for document.
An all stakeholders conference shall be held after which it would have to gunner no less than a two-third majority in parliament before a referendum could be held and then presented to the president for ascent.
Post published in: News