Zimbabwe: Constitutional Referendum in Zimbabwe

David Pottie FROM EISA Zimababwe Election Update 2000, 1, 5 June, 7-8.

That the constitutional referendum held in February this year, the first since independence, resulted in a 'no' vote is no big surprise considering the events leading up to the eventual polls.

The Constitutional Commission, appointed and mandated by the President to write up a new constitution, started their work against a background of controversy. It was plagued by accusations of being a partisan body likely champion the views of the ruling ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe National African Union - Patriotic Front) party because the majority of its 400 members came from the party including 150 members of parliament. Only 3 members of parliament are from the opposition.

Most outspoken on this was the National Constitutional Assembly, a rival body of churches and civic organisations, which had initiated the campaign for the need for a more democratic and home-grown constitution in May 1997. After government had taken over the process, critics said hijacked the process, the NCA refused invitations to be part of the Commission objecting mainly to the fact that President Robert Mugabe was hand-picking the commissioners himself.

Even after the draft was finished and presented to the President in December of last year, more than 25 of the 400 commissioners denounced the document as not being a true reflection of what the people had said. As many as 24 of them showed their disapproval by not attending the official hand-over ceremony. The addition of a clause on the compulsory acquisition of land for resettlement of landless black people appears to have failed to win any converts to the land 'jihad.'

Church leaders widely regarded as the moral pillars of the Zimbabwean society lacked faith in the draft. They called for a green paper to be given to the people for verification before the holding of the referendum because they felt the Commission had compromised on a number of issues raised by the public. This call followed a submission made by the commission to the President that in some instances it had used its own judgment in crafting the document instead of going by the people's views.

Gender activists too took up arms threatening to reject the draft. In a letter written to the minister of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs, Emmerson Mnangagwa, a coalition of women's groups threatened not to endorse the draft constitution in the referendum if sections dealing with equality were not amended.

Naturally, the NCA which had been against the Commission from the start, disapproved of the final product. They went on a nationwide campaign against the draft the moment it was out. "We are urging the people to say 'no' to this draft so that we restart everything. This so-called draft constitution is a ZANU-PF document," they blasted.

The Commission countered the 'no vote' campaigns with a series of public meetings held in all the major centres of the country explaining the implications of the 'yes' vote and that it would end, once and for all, the complex land question. Professor Walter Kamba, a respected academic and former chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe, who was also the vice-chairperson of the Commission said a rejection of the draft would mean reverting back to the discredited Lancaster House constitution.

Foreign affairs minister, Stan Mudenge said if the people voted no in the referendum that meant they were happy with the current constitution.

Bishop Peter Hatendi, who has just resigned as chairperson of the Electoral Supervisory Commission, which was in charge of monitoring the referendum, disagreed.