Zanu PF “walked out” of a Copac meeting yesterday after the committee rejected the party’s 29-page document with fresh demands.
The two MDC parties last night united against Zanu PF’s latest move saying it was calculated to drag the crafting of the country’s new constitution.
In a joint Press statement last night, Copac co-chairpersons Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Edward Mkhosi (MDC) said it was unfortunate that Zanu PF had resorted to such actions and adopting the issues put forward by President Robert Mugabe’s party would be “a deviation from the views of the people”.
“At the commencement of the proceedings, Zanu PF insisted that its new positions be adopted as the position of the Select Committee while other parties insisted that the new position by Zanu PF must be clearly stated and identified as such. When the Select Committee rejected the Zanu PF demands, the Zanu PF members of the Select Committee led by Olivia Muchena walked out of the meeting in protest,” the statement read in part.
Mwonzora added that the new constitution had to reflect the views of the people.
“As the other co-chairpersons, we are aware that in 2000 the Zanu PF leadership tampered with the draft and made fundamental alterations. The people of Zimbabwe then correctly rejected this draft. The current draft will suffer the same fate if we allow Zanu PF to change the views of the people of Zimbabwe,” Mwonzora said.
“The act of walking out by Zanu PF is meant to derail the programme and delay the elections which they pretend to want this year. It shows the timidity of Zanu PF. We also notice that Honourable (Munyaradzi Paul) Mangwana has now been stripped of powers as a co-chairperson and that Muchena has now taken over as the de facto co-chair . . . Zanu PF is behaving like a typical opposition and has resorted to protest politics.”
Strenuous efforts to contact Zanu PF Copac co-chairperson Mangwana last night were fruitless as his phone was not reachable.
