Thursday, September 27, 2012

President Mugabe Apprises Zuma of Constitution

President apprises Zuma of constitution

Wednesday, 26 September 2012 00:04
From Caesar Zvayi in New York
Zimbabwe Herald

SADC facilitator to the Global Political Agreement, South African President Jacob Zuma, has acknowledged the tremendous progress made in the constitution-mak­ing process and the ongoing interaction among princi­pals on the matter.

This emerged after a meeting between President Mugabe and Mr Zuma on the sidelines of a high-level meeting on the rule of law at the UN Headquarters here on Monday.

A source who attended the meeting said President Mugabe briefed Mr Zuma on progress made in the con­stitution-making process against the backdrop of a letter written to Mr Zuma by the MDC formations asking him to intervene after the two parties declared a premature deadlock.

“Well, basically it was to give an update in terms of the constitution-making process and this against a letter the South African president received from the two MDC for­mations imploring him to intervene,” the source said.

“So, the President gave him an update of the constitu­tion-making process. The processes under way, the progress there has been, which he (Zuma) reckoned is remarkable.

“The President told him we are going to the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference where two documents will be presented — the Copac Draft Constitution and the National Report — so that the nation can be given an oppor­tunity to read the draft against the national report.”

President Mugabe and his South African counterpart, the source said, agreed that constitution-making is a national process that must be led by Zimbabweans.

“President Mugabe assured his South African counter­part that Zimbabwe will not let Sadc down on that mat­ter,” the source said.

President Mugabe apprised Mr Zuma of the apparent legal complications arising from the constitution-making process on the one hand and the Supreme Court ruling ordering by-elections in three vacant constituencies against the backdrop of vacancies in more than 30 con­stituencies that would necessitate a mini-general election just a few months short of harmonised elections tenable by June next year.

“The President also explained the apparent legal com­plication arising from the process of constitution-making on the one hand versus the Supreme Court ruling, but also to get the South African president to appreciate the fact that the electoral vacan­cies in our system are of such magnitude as to almost require a mini-general election. So there are serious cost implications and also time implications.”

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