President Mugabe Apprises Zuma of Constitution

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe with South African President Jacob Zuma met to hold discussions on the political and economic issues of Southern Africa. There will be a SADC summit soon., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

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.”