We are worried that the pace at which processes are moving does not show any sense of urgency among those that have been given specific tasks to carry out.
To start with, it is a source of great concern that the Parliamentary Select Committee on constitution-making has not demonstrated adequate progress in availing a refined draft after the Second All-Stakeholders Conference held late last year.
We would have thought that, by now, concrete steps would have been taken to prepare the electorate for a referendum that would pave the way for harmonised elections.
The Executive is also to blame because it wants to be part of the process which, in essence, should be driven by Parliament. It seems there is a big fear within this arm of government of being left out, but we urge the parties involved to adhere to agreed principles and templates.
It should be acknowledged that the issue of the new constitution itself determines a number of other developments that are related to the holding of elections, among them the alignment of statutes to new constitutional provisions.
The key reforms that would usher in a new political-economic dispensation in line with the tenets of the Global Political Agreement are yet to be concretised. These include media freedom and democratic electoral provisions.
We are particularly disturbed by the fact that, despite all the concerns raised over the years, there is not much evidence of progress on voter preparation – of top priority being voter registration and the cleaning up of the voters’ roll.
As we speak, there is not much happening in terms of mobilising potential voters to register or to verify their status on the roll. This is despite loud promises last year that, come the beginning of the year, voter registration be in full swing.
Of course, we have heard concerns regarding the availability of funding. But raising the money is a burden that should not be left entirely to Treasury. Other stakeholders need to play their part, among them the Ministry of Mines that should ensure that diamond revenue is harnessed towards critical national processes such as voter registration.
In essence, our message is that we should shed the prevailing indifferent attitude towards elections and proceed with greater haste.
Post published in: Editor: Wilf Mbanga
This dysfunctional GNU has deliberately failed to carry out its task of implementing the reforms and thus ensure the elections are free and fair and democratic credible. Mugabe deliberately ensured the GNU failed because he knew Zanu PF would never win free elections and Tsvangirai deliberately neglected honoring his promise to bring change because he did not want to bite the hand that fed him now that he was enjoying the luxuries of being on Mugabe’s gravy train.
The referendum on the Copac draft constitution is essentially a referendum on whether the GNU will deliver free and fair elections. The answer is a big NO and the nation must vote accordingly!
It is interesting to note that whilst HRW has castigated the GNU for wasting the nation’s time, money and human misery and lives all these last five years in what is clearly a wild-goose chase; local NGO and civic groupings were tripping over each other to be involved in the Copac Second All Stakeholders’ Conference. The lack of credible local NGO and civic society has not helped open the democratic space in Zimbabwe!