Orchestrated conference chaos reveals lack of unity

Scores of war veterans also sang war songs and shouted slogans at the top table inside the conference hall, drowning out Moyos speech. In Shona they started singing ZANU PF songs and slogans which include inflammatory words like: We are doing what we did in June, winning; We are doing away with the Prime Minister; and
Zimbabwe is liberated with blood.
They also hurled empty plastic water bottles in Moyos direction, forcing him to leave the podium. Police eventually stopped the chaos, but many people left the venue saying they feared a serious outbreak of violence after an MDC councilor was badly injured and hospitalized.

Trouble around the conference had already started last week when the event was postponed from the original date of 11-12 July. ZANU PF had announced the conference was postponed indefinitely due to lack of funds, and the Parliamentary Select Committee had to put its foot down and announce that it would take place this week. What followed was a last minute rush to fully prepare for the conference, which set the scene for the chaos that would ensue on Monday.

Many civil society groups and NGOs, which were meant to provide a peoples perspective to the constitutional reform process, were not informed of the conference until the weekend. This included the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which sent a letter of complaint to the conference organisers. ZLHR director Irene Petras expressed anger in the letter after civil society only represented 8% of the delegates invited to the conference, which had been organised without any consultation with ZLHR or other groups.

Taking just the issue of the percentage representation of political parties, parliamentarians and other government representatives, it can be reasonably perceived that there are intentions to make this 1st Constitutional Conference a political party-led and parliament-driven process, rather than a national process, Petras wrote.

Civil servants organising the registration Sunday were unable to accredit more than 200 delegates out of the 4,000 invited to attend. Some out-of-town delegates slept overnight outside the conference center to be sure they were accredited before the start of proceedings Monday. But there were not enough personnel, stationery or cameras to cope with the hastily arranged conference. When it became clear registration was impossible before the start of conference, many delegates left the line and simply walked into the hall.

Founding MDC member Trudy Stevenson explained there was a clear parallel process going on during registrations. She described seeing a separate queue entering a separate room, with ZANU PF MP Nyasha Chikwinya guiding groups inside. Chikwinya has since been identified as one of the people who led ZANU PF thugs during the chaos that ended the conference. Stevenson said the situation reminded her of the elections and the nonsense at some polling stations!

Stevenson also described seeing notorious war veteran, Joseph Chinotimba, inside the hall organising the singing and dancing that frightened many into leaving. She also said that it appeared some ZANU PF aligned delegates were able to get accreditation more easily than MDC or civil-rights activists, saying the whole event was a well planned, well orchestrated disruption and show of power.

Meanwhile, state media on Monday evening laid the blame of the disruption at the feet of civil society groups and MDC supporters. The ZBC reported that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) and the MDC were responsible for leading the disruption. Ironically however, groups such as the ZCTU and the NCA have boycotted the event, saying it is not a people driven process.

The NCA on Tuesday joined the chorus of outrage over Mondays chaos, but argued that such an incident was expected. In a statement the group wrote: The behaviour displayed yesterday is not shocking in a political process especially given the ZANU-PF history. We are in no doubt that if this process continues as it is, ZANU-PF will have its way and the people will be losers.