NCA Archives:NCA won’t accept gvt ‘fraud’

 

TheStandard 2-8 May 1999

Morgan Tsvangirai-NCA Chaiperson-
''If we do not have an all inclusive and democratic
constititutional review process, the chances are
 that the end product will be defective''

 Daniel Manyadure

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s decision to appoint a non-representative constitutional commission, has laid the ground for a bruising battle between government and the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and opposition parties.

‘’As NCA, we will not sit back and allow such a fraud. A single glance at the list of the appointees presents a disgusting picture of ZANU PF. It contains all the mayors, all Zanu PF’s provincial chairmen, members of the party’s central committee and town mayors (who by the way, are all members of the ruling party) and constitute more than three quarters of the commission,’’ says constitutional lawyer and spokesman for NCA, Professor Welshman Ncube.

 

He added: ‘’In all fairness, how can such a commission be representative of all the country’s stakeholders? There are also a number of individuals we don’t know who appear on the list and investigations establish who they are, are under way. There are also too many chiefs on the list and we wonder what for, when there are already 10 chiefs in parliament who automatically qualify to be members of the commission in accordance with Proclamation 6 of 1999 gazetted by government.’’   

 

Ncube says government has turned a deaf ear to pleas to involve all concerned parties in the reform process.  ‘’Government has closed all its doors to us. It found no need for negotiations and went ahead to appointing a Zanu Pf led commission of inquiry to monitor the process. We have no problem with that. As NCA and other stakeholders, we will soon embark on an aggressive campaign to show the masses that they have been short changed. The commission is not representative of everyone, but is meant to entrench Zanu PF.’’ Ncube say the way forward will be mapped on  28 May, and ‘’that’s when government will realise that it made a mistake, people will not sit back and allow the ruling party to continue manipulating them.’’ 

Mugabe, using the powers vested in him under the Commissions of Inquiries Act, has handpicked individuals of his choice to spearhead the reform process. According to political observers, Zanu PF has amended the constitution in the last 19 years ‘’of which all were fraught with defects’.’

Morgan Tsvangirai, the chairman of the NCA, says the act gives the president sweeping powers to tamper with the commission at will, and for that reason, it is not free, fair and representative of people’s wishes. ‘’ We never undertook to take part in any commission appointed by Mugabe to re-write the constitution. The feeling within the NCA is that we do not have an all-inclusive and democratic constitutional review process, the chances are that the end product will be defective,’’ says Tsvangirai.

 

Ncube agree: How can a commission be democratic when it is composed of people drawn from a party which has been failing to come up with a democratic constitution for many years?’’

A fuming Margaret Dongo said there was an urgent need for all concerned Zimbabweans to strongly resist a commission ‘’which is almost all Zanu PF.’’

‘’I am prepared to be fired from parliament opposing this commission. Mugabe thinks he is so clever that he can cheat all the people of Zimbabwe.

‘’Mugabe’s reluctance to include an equal number of people from opposition parties clearly illustrates his fear that a more democratic constitution could emerge and so compromise his grip on power,’’ adds Dongo.

She was critical of the respected bodies which allowed themselves to be used as a cover by Mugabe. ‘’I was really shocked to notice that the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, who we thought stood for democratic governance, accepted to participate alongside the corrupt ruling party. They should have been the first to blow the cover.’’

 

Dongo, however believes that the non-Zanu PF members of the commission are just a drop in the ocean and therefore their findings are likely to be overshadowed.

Of the 241 appointed commissioners, more than three quarters belong to Zanu PF, and of the 149 MPs expected to participate in the exercise, 147 are Zanu PF members , who include cabinet ministers and top government officials. The Standard has learnt that several appointees have turned down Mugabe’s offer, citing as the primary reason for their action, the commission’s undemocratic outlook.

 

‘’I can confirm that I never received any letter of appointment from the president but, even  if I had, I would not participate because Zimrights is a member of the NCA, and as such, it is the torch-bearer and every position to be taken by member organisations would follow its guidelines,’’ says the former  chairman of Zimrights, Dr Reginald Matchaba-Hove, whose name features on the list of commissioners, and headed: ‘’I was appointed as a Zimrights chairman, but now I’m no longer thus, it automatically means I cant participate in that commission.’’

Another appointee who disassociated himself from the commission, Themba Nyathi, says  he turned down the offer because, ‘’ the process is undemocratic in the sense that it was done through an act which empowers the president to do whatever he wishes with the process.’’    

Nb-This article was taken from the Standard of the 2^nd-8^th of May 1999