Bulawayo civil society organisations (CSOs) on Thursday declared that the struggle to have their views considered in the new constitution is still not over and will press forward with their demands for devolution and the recognition of all languages in the new supreme law.
As part of the resolutions of the meeting organised by the Matabeleland Constitutional Reform Agenda (Macra) and the National Association of Non-governmental Organisations to discuss the leaked draft constitution, the CSOs identified seven key areas they felt still needed “some more lobbying”.
Macra co-ordinator Effie Ncube said the battle for the new constitution was still on and would be long.
“All the elections we have had before have failed to address the underlying constitutional crisis.
“The principal agenda of the inclusive government was to come up with a new people-driven constitution.
“Everything coalesced around the constitutional reform agenda,”he said.
The CSOs resolved that they would pursue the issues of minority rights electoral systems, citizenship, independent commissions, systems of government, focusing on devolution of power and arms of state.
