Mugabe must GO: New people driven Constitution

HARARE — Zimbabwe’s draft constitution has barred candidates above the age of 70 or those who have served two terms from contesting in future presidential elections, a provision widely seen as targeted at President Robert Mugabe. The Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) Friday said it had completed the first draft of the supreme law, which is now being reviewed by a team of technical experts.

However, the clause which says, “a person is disqualified for elections as President if he or she has already held office as President for one or more periods, whether continuous or not, amounting to 10 years” has already sparked heated debate.

The state-owned Herald newspaper said the clause appeared targeted at President Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence 1980.
He turns 88 on February 21 but has been endorsed by his ruling ZANU-PF party as its candidate for elections he wants held this year.
“It is clear this is an anti-Mugabe constitution,” the Herald quoted an unnamed political analyst.

“Here is a constitution that is being drafted by three political parties seeking to disqualify the leader of one of the political parties.”
‘Regime change’
A decade ago, another attempt to re-write Zimbabwe’s constitution failed after the drafters ignored people’s views regarding presidential term limits.

A coalition of opposition parties and civic groups successfully campaigned for a “No” vote at a referendum on the new constitution in 2000 and delivered a crushing defeat against President Mugabe.

According to The Herald, which usually reflects the thinking in ZANU-PF, the experts described the new draft constitution as “an originally flawed regime change document that does not reflect the view of the people.”
“The regime change agenda unmistakably permeates the draft constitution targeting the entire system of government, as we have known it,” the paper quoted another unnamed expert as saying.

“It is an assault on our foundational values, religious and cultural mores.

“It is not building on those pillars but uprooting them and introducing retrogressive alien systems inimical to the survival of the Zimbabwean state and way of life.”
President Mugabe is likely to face Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, 59, and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube, 51, in the polls if the draft constitution is rejected at a referendum later this year.

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Posted by Philip Mangena on February 13, 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.