Our correspondent in Harare, Simon Muchemwa, said day one of the conference was peaceful and predicted that the draft would be approved. The draft is however a compromise document criticized by many independent analysts. However others believe there are many clauses in the draft that make it better than the current Lancaster House constitution.
Muchemwa said before the conference ZANU PF had indicated it wanted to make several changes to the draft but after going through the national statistical report, which they demanded be released before the conference, the party made a u-turn and accepted the draft as it was.
The conference concludes on Tuesday and our correspondent said the smooth passage of the draft, which many had doubted could happen, would be a victory for all Zimbabweans.
‘I think to a large extent it is really a case whereby not only can the ‘yes campaigners’ claim victory, but Zimbabweans as a whole can celebrate a victory of common sense and a political maturity,’ he said.
‘This was a test case because there was a lot of resistance to this draft and there were fears there would be violence. The first day so far has passed by peacefully and from the deliberations from the thematic committees it would appear they’re agreeing with the contents of the draft.’
Muchemwa said the peace surrounding the conference was also due to the tight security cordon.
The new charter is one of the key provisions of the power-sharing deal struck in 2008 between the three parties to the GPA.
The proposed constitution provides for an overhaul of some aspects of the executive, legislature and judiciary, together with a measure of devolution to the regions.
The country will still be ruled by an executive president, but he or she will be constrained by some checks and balances and parliament will vet key appointments that had previously been made unilaterally by the president. President and parliament will have fixed terms, with elections every five years. SW Radio Africa
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