There was a heavy police presence in and around the venue of the conference, complete with water canons and truckloads of anti-riot details from the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Support Unit.
Sources also revealed that the venue was teeming with plain clothes police officers and members of the Central Intelligence Organisation. Both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called for peace in their opening remarks.
“Lets us be peaceful in our conduct. Let us shame our detractors who say Zimbabweans cannot solve their problems without violence,” said Mugabe. “There is nothing as primitive as being violent,” he added.
Tsvangirai said there was need for unity and urged collectiveness all the way until a new constitution was adopted.
Even Joseph Chinotimba, who led a group of Zanu (PF) activists at the First All-Stakeholders Conference in 2009 in violent disruptions of proceedings, sang a different tune and urged peace.
A delegate who spoke on condition of anonymity said Zanu (PF) had planned to disrupt the conference but abandoned the plan after Mugabe called for peace.
MDC-N leader, Welshman Ncube, at a press briefing after boycotting the first day of the summit in protest over the inclusion of Arthur Mutambara as a principal, claimed that Mugabe was still planning to derail the constitution-making process, this time by frustrating his party.
Post published in: News