PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last Friday told his supporters that he had an obligation to accept the new draft constitution because it was the culmination of a process that he first spearheaded in 1996 while he was still National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman.
Phillip Chidavaenzi
Addressing a campaign rally in Karoi, where he was also drumming up support for the draft charter ahead of the referendum scheduled for next Saturday, Tsvangirai, who is the MDC-T leader, said he could not “throw away” what he initiated.
“We are here to encourage you to vote for the Copac draft. The journey of constitutional reform did not start with Zanu PF, but with the MDC,” he said.
“In 1996, we started demanding a new constitution. We came together as civic society and formed the NCA.
“If I was the first chairman, should I throw away what I started?” Tsvangirai quipped.
He said during the 2006 MDC-T congress, after the split, they agreed to pressurise President Robert Mugabe to the negotiating table and discuss a transitional government, new constitution and free and fair elections.
Tsvangirai said he was happy the processes were now off the ground. “We are now at a stage where we have a new constitution and we are now looking forward to free and fair elections,” he said.
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Tsvangirai said the new constitution was miles ahead of the Lancaster House Constitution, which he described as “a ceasefire document” silent on democracy.
He said under the new constitution there was a tremendous improvement in the Bill of Rights and the trimming of presidential executive powers.
Tsvangirai said provinces would be empowered to spearhead their own development to avoid a situation where people “keep crying that only Zvimba (Mugabe’s rural home) is developed”.
