“Members of the CIO numbering over 50 were accredited under COPAC staff. This was done as a disguise. In fact, it was an order from the top to accredit them as COPAC staff and we could not resist. What this means is that the budget has to be increased to accommodate the ballooning number of delegates who are still coming to our offices despite the closure of the accreditation process on Friday,” a source in the COPAC secretariat told The Zimbabwean on Monday.
COPAC has also increased the number of delegates from NGOs from 571 to 721. That was after civic society petitioned SADC and threatened to boycott the conference.
NGOs were frustrated by COPAC’s decision for its members to be accredited under political parties.
“As we are speaking right now I want to tell you that MDC-T’s Douglas Mwonzora is now pushing for the inclusion of officials from the Prime Minister’s office after realising that the over 50 CIOs I have mentioned were coming from the President’s office .Mwonzora is saying the same should apply to the PM’s office,” the source added.
MDC-T COPAC Co-chairperson, Douglas Mwonzora could neither deny nor confirm.
Post published in: News