Hundreds of villagers, allegedly bussed by ZANU PF to cause chaos at the First National All- Stakeholders Constitutional Conference held at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare were left stranded after the party failed to secure transport back to their homes.On Wednesday, a day after the two day conference, hundreds could be seen milling around the conference venue, after ZANU PF failed to facilitate for their return. A supporter who was among the stranded and was trying to secure transport funds from the organisers of the event, The Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC), said they were duped to believe that the conference was an attempt by the Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to remove President Robert Mugabe.
COPAC was supposed to re-imburse accommodation and transport allowances to approved delegates and reports indicate that ZANU PF brought twice the number of the allocated 600 delegates who did not get accredited and were therefore not eligible to the allowances. Co- chairperson of COPAC, Douglas Mwonzora could not be reached for a comment as his mobile was out of reach.
When the ZANU leadership in my area came to us, they told us this whole thing was an attempt to remove President so that is why we came here fully armed to defend our president, said the supporter, a war veteran from Mutare. We are now stranded with no food and the organisers (COPAC) say they can only pay us for the two days and yet we this is our third day here and some of us may not be able to go back to our homes today because of the time, said the war veteran.
On Monday ZANU PF supporters, mainly the youths and war veterans violently disrupted the proceedings of the conference in a move that was seen as a strategic attempt by ZANU PF and its allied organisations to frustrate the NGOs out of the process. Hundreds of visibly drunk and rowdy ZANU PF supporters stomped into the conference room and heckled the Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo before bringing business to a halt.
The conference, however resumed after the disruptions received a string of condemnations from the three principals of the Coalition Government, that is President Mugabe, prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Authur Mutambara.
Since the formation of the coalition government in February, ZANU PF has always attempted to frustrate the progress of reforms and of late the party has been campaigning for the imposition of a secretly made draft to be used as the basis of making the new constitution.
The draft, made at Kariba in 2007, has received wide criticism from many sections which feel the draft will leave Mugabes executive powers intact.
Post published in: News