Bulawayo Agenda is concerned by the enduring stalemate in the constitution making process.
It unequivocally condemns continued delaying tactics sparked by ZANU PF amendments to the COPAC draft constitution they fully and freely participated in creating and signed. The organisation interprets the move as holding the nation at ransom.
Bulawayo Agenda acknowledges the reality that a polarized government is not capable of producing hurdle-free processes. The constitution making process is not an exception. In fact, COPAC has defied odds to produce a document that somewhat resonates with the views of Zimbabweans. The draft must thus be subjected to the remaining stages.
The sheer hypocrisy and unnecessary dithering and endless negotiations of the people’s views by political parties have denied Zimbabweans a chance to be the adjudicators through the process set out in Article IV of the GPA.
ZANU PF’s behavior is evidence of failure to respect the laid down process of constitution making and the views of the people of Zimbabwe which were already compromised by the ‘bussing and coaching’ and the negotiations of the draft constitution.
The unwarranted editing of the COPAC draft constitution is against the dictates of Article VI of the Global Political Agreement which states that the first draft should be subjected to a 2nd All Stakeholders Conference and Parliamentary processes which will subsequently lead to a referendum.
In that regard Bulawayo Agenda calls on the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) to up their game in executing their duties and ensuring the full implementation of the GPA. It further calls upon SADC, through its diplomatic efforts that are due to be bolstered by the appointments of ambassadors David Katye from Tanzania and Colly Muunyu from Zambia alongside the South African facilitation team led by Lindiwe Zulu, to unreservedly reprimand political parties to desist from using the ‘people’s views’ as scapegoat for political gains.
Bulawayo Agenda also acknowledges the efforts exerted by the SADC facilitation team in resolving the country’s political crisis. It calls on the regional body to insist on the procedural resolution of the constitution impasse in line with the said article of the GPA.
Bulawayo Agenda further reminds the political parties to stop with immediate effect to further erode the people’s confidence in national processes, implement the key reforms as per the Global Political Agreement, the election roadmap so as to pave way for conducive environment for credible elections.
Over and above, Bulawayo Agenda would like to call on the people of Zimbabwe to remain vigilant in guarding democratic gains and the views they gave during the outreach stage of the constitution process.