CIVIL society organisations (CSOs) have threatened to pull out of the new constitution’s Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference today, alleging Copac had breached its pledge to allocate them 70% of the 1 100 delegates expected at the crucial indaba.
Report by Wonai Masvingise
The Civil Society Co-ordination Mechanism on Constitutional Reform (CSCMCR) yesterday dropped the bombshell, saying Copac had indicated it would only accommodate 70 of their members.
The civil society representative body said Copac had written to the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition asking for lists of 30 and 40 delegates respectively.
“We reject your invitation to submit lists for the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference because of the circumstances within which the invitations are made and the paddocking of civil society along partisan political lines,” CSCMCR said.
“Copac must reverse its decision to allocate civil society delegates through political parties by 12 midday on Monday the 15th of October, 2012, or risk having the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference with limited or no legitimate civil society participation.”
“The letters that we have received thus far from your office, indicate a deliberate breach of commitments made by Copac around numbers of delegations from civil society as well as the mode within which these would be allocated.”
However, Copac spokesperson Jessie Majome was singing a different tune yesterday. She distanced Copac from the letter sent to the CSOs by one A Marumba, a Copac administration manager.
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“We have indicated from the beginning that civil society should constitute 70% of the total number of delegates and in the process that is the principle that we have been working with,” Majome said.
