HARARE Zimbabwes constitutional committee at the weekend said a referendum on a new governance charter will take place on June 30 next year, days after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai urged the regional SADC alliance to send observers to ensure the plebiscite is free and fair.
The multi-party Constitution Select Committee said collation of data will begin at the end of this month, while thematic group discussions will be held from November 1 to December 22 and the drafting will be done during the month of January next year.
A second all stakeholders conference will be held by March 31, 2011, while a report back to Parliament will be done April 30, 2011, the committee said.
The Constitution Select Committee would like to inform members of the public that constitution outreach programme has been completed in all the provinces except Harare, it said.
Data uploading begins on Monday, 18th of October and should be finalised by the end of October.
Tsvangirai addressing journalists at a news conference earlier last week accused President Robert Mugabes ZANU PF party and rogue elements in the army and state security agencies of violently disrupting meetings to the gather views of the public in Harare and the capitals dormitory Chitungwiza town.
ZANU PF has sorely disappointed us all in the conduct of the constitutional outreach meetings. The activities of rogue elements of the security agencies alongside state actors directed by ZANU PF was clearly designed to deny citizens their right to have their views heard, Tsvangirai said.
The Premier invited the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to send an observer mission in the country way before the referendum to monitor the situation and ensure the plebiscite is violence free and democratic.
I invite SADC to deploy observers before the constitutional referendum to help protect the rights of Zimbabweans to express their views freely and without violence or intimidation, Tsvangirai said.
Constitutional meetings in the capital Harare were suspended after supporters of ZANU PF went on rampage stoning and beating up people who were attending the meetings. The meetings have been rescheduled for next weekend.
Zimbabwe is writing a new constitution as part of reforms agreed by Tsvangirai and Mugabe to strengthen democracy in the country.
Zimbabweans hope that a new constitution will replace the ceasefire document penned in 1979 on the eve of the countrys independence from Britain.
The new charter is also expected to introduce two 5-year presidential term limits but ZANU-PF wants to do away with the position of prime minister, which it says prevents the smooth flow of government operations.
In 2000, voters rejected a draft constitution in a national referendum that catapulted Tsvangirai and the MDC as the most serious challenge to Mugabe’s vice-like hold on power.
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