The Zanu PF politburo rejected the draft constitution produced by Parliament’s Constitution Select Committee (Copac) and drew up a number of proposed changes instead when it met from Wednesday to 5am on Thursday, it has been revealed.
Chaired by President Robert Mugabe, the marathon meeting started at 5pm and ended at 5am the next day.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo confirmed that the politburo had rejected the draft, but said they were hopeful parties in the inclusive government would be open for fresh negotiations.
“Zanu PF supports the constitution-making process because it is in line with the Global Political Agreement (GPA), but we cannot support the draft by Copac because it has a lot of grey areas,” he said.
“The meeting went well and we looked at all aspects of the document extensively.
“We generally concluded the exercise and we are happy with the product we produced.”
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He repeated Zanu PF claims that the Copac draft, which is a product of negotiations between the three parties in the inclusive government, did not reflect the views of Zimbabweans.
“The Copac document has left quite a number of things that were raised by people during the outreach programme,” Gumbo said.
“The draft did not capture some of the people’s views and through the amendments we have proposed, we want to make sure that the people’s views are included.
“We have decided to propose some amendments that will be tabled to the other political parties in the inclusive government.”
He said Zanu PF would soon present its proposals to the MDC formations.
But the proposals are not likely to be readily accepted by the two parties which have already endorsed the draft and said they would not accept fresh negotiations.
Gumbo claimed the two parties had no choice but to negotiate. “If they want a new constitution, they should be willing to engage,” he said.
“Otherwise we will have no option than to go back to the Lancaster House Constitution.”
He refused to comment on Zanu PF’s proposed amendments, but hardliners who include Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo feel the draft drastically reduces the President’s powers.
At its initial meeting to review the draft, Zanu PF had said it agreed to 97% of the draft before the hawks came out guns blazing, saying the whole document must be thrown away.