Farirai Machivenyika and Lloyd Gumbo
COPAC’S Second All Stakeholders’ Conference ended in Harare yesterday with delegates failing to agree on nearly all contentious issues in the draft Constitution. Presentations by representatives of various thematic committees reflected the differences

that already existed among the three parties in the inclusive Government on the contents of the draft since it was made public.

Soon after the production of the draft, Zanu-PF rejected some of the clauses and proposed amendments, while the two MDC formations adopted it as it was.

Thematic committees mostly differed on what method to use between quantitative and qualitative.

In its presentation, the thematic committee on executive authority showed that some delegates wanted executive authority vested in the President while others wanted it shared within Cabinet.

“Those who said the clause should be retained argued that the draft was negotiated (by the GPA partners) and meets international best practices,” said the committee’s co-chairperson, Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa.

“The other view which got vigorous support was that executive authority should vest in the President since he is directly elected by the people and cannot be shared with appointees (Cabinet). This is because the National Statistical Report provides for an elected President.”
Ambassador Mutsvangwa said while others wanted the Presidential running mate clause to be retained, some wanted it removed arguing that the issue was never mentioned during the outreach and want to retain provisions in the current Constitution where the President appoints his deputies.

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The committee also differed over to whom a sitting President may tender his or her resignation with some saying he should hand his resignation to Parliament while others argued that the letter should be handed over to the Chief Justice since he was responsible for his swearing in.
Presenting the report on the security services, the committee’s co-chairperson, Cde Jabulani Mangena, said there were sharp differences on the provisions on security services as contained in the draft.

“We received comments and proposals for amendments on almost all provisions of sections of this chapter,” he said.
The section on security services as contained in the draft makes wholesale changes to the country’s defence forces, intelligence services and the police and prison services.

USEFUL LINKS

• Zanu-PF-approved amendments to Copac Draft Constitution(1)

• Zanu-PF-approved amendments to Copac draft Constitution(2)

• COPAC draft constitution

Some of the changes include term limits for top leaders of security services, the transfer of intelligence from the President’s Office to be under an Act of Parliament and that the President should consult Parliament when deploying defence forces.

On citizenship, committee co-chairperson Mr Felix Magalela Sibanda said there were differences on the issue of dual citizenship.
“There were major differences especially on dual citizenship. Some said 52,6 percent of respondents in the National Statistical Report said they did not want dual citizenship but others said the 52,6 percent was just a frequency of when the issue was mentioned.

“Other delegates said the minority should be protected while some said Parliament should not determine citizenship,” he said.
Various committees dealing with provisions on whether to have the Attorney-General’s Office or the National Prosecuting Authority differed.
In their reports, the various committees noted that some wanted the NPA to be done away with completely while others wanted the provisions for its establishment to remain.

There were also disagreements in the thematic committee on the judiciary and the courts where two views were expressed on whether to have a stand-alone constitutional court or for the Supreme Court to sit as a constitutional court when the need arises.
“During outreach, some people said they want the Supreme Court to remain the apex court while the other view was that a constitutional court should be the apex court,” said committee co-chairperson Mr Josphat Tshuma.

He said from the national statistical report 46 percent of the people said they wanted the to remain the highest court in the land  while 23 percent said they wanted the constitutional court.

He said the committee also differed on the appointment of judges with others saying they should be appointed by the President in consultation with the Judicial Services Commission while some wanted the President to appoint them from a shortlist of persons interviewed publicly by the JSC.
The committee on Founding Provisions had differences on whether to have devolution or decentralisation of authority.

“Some want devolution to be replaced with decentralisation while others said there was a need to retain devolution as provided for in the draft because it facilitates for the address of powers on socio-economic values,” said committee co-chairperson Mr Blessing Chebundo.

However, there were other differences bordering on semantics, for instance, on “security services” others wanted it to be called “security organs”.
Others also wanted the term “civil service” in the draft replaced with “public service” while “Government tiers” would be “Government structures”.
Copac is now expected to consider these various submissions and come up with an agreed draft to be taken to Parliament soon.