Zanu-PF wants Kariba Draft, not constitutional reform
Posted by Nxwala on March 17, 2010
The government has deployed outreach teams to consult the Zimbabwean people on the new constitution, hoping to make the document ready before next year’s general elections. But I do not think a new constitutional document will be completed in Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF wants the Kariba draft to form the basis of the new constitution, while the MDC wants the new constitution to be “people-driven.” If the constitution is “people-driven”, then Zanu-PF will sponsor violence during the referendum and people will be scared to vote. If the document is not “people-driven,” then the MDC will tell its supporters to vote no and with that regard we will go back to the current constitution.
Zanu-PF have already started lobbying people to adopt the Kariba draft, which will allow Mugabe to be President for another two terms. They are telling people that the money the unity government used to draft the constitution was meant to buy seedlings for farmers on recently invaded commercial farms. They forget that the funding was provided by international organizations and not by the Zimbabwean government. Zanu-PF is also using violence and the army to scare people into supporting the draft. I think the main reason why Mugabe wants to adopt the Kariba draft is to try and escape prosecution of the Gukurahundi atrocities.
The Kariba draft is one hundred percent backed by Zanu-PF but one hundred percent rejected by most of the people. If adopted I think it will give Zanu more power and cases of political violence and human rights abuses will be left unattended forever. If the Kariba draft is adopted, there will be serious violence and torture campaigns during the elections in 2011 and if Mugabe wins then Zimbabwe will be forever in ruins. I do not think this time Zanu will change and follow what is in a new draft constitution because what they want is to stay in power and nothing less than that.
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