PAUL Mangwana, one of two chairmen of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee (COPAC), has called on the country's political parties to stop their supporters from attacking public meetings on the drafting of a new constitution.
The appeal came two weeks after a supporter of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai died following an attack on such a meeting by militants of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party.
"The political parties should take responsibility for the behaviour of their supporters during our outreach programmes," said Mangwana, a Zanu PF MP.
He said the political parties should "publicly and in writing ... denounce violence, intimidation, racism and other malpractices during the outreach programme."
Zimbabwe is creating a new constitution as part of a road map to fresh elections agreed in a power-sharing deal forged last year between veteran leader Mugabe and rivals Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the Deputy Prime Minister.
The power-sharing deal, reached after months of unrest following disputed elections in 2008, calls for a new constitution to be approved in a referendum, paving the way to fresh polls.
But outreach meetings on the new constitution have seen increasing violence and intimidation, Human Rights Watch said last week.
Mangwana said at a press conference that disrupted meetings in Harare will be rescheduled to the weekend of October 16.
He urged police to ensure the meetings proceed peacefully.
"The outreach programme is not a process of political contestation," he said.
Tsvangirai has blamed the military and state security institutions for disrupting meetings throughout the country.
The outreach exercise was expected to end last month, but the constitution-making process has been delayed by violence, a shortage of funds and disagreements in the power-sharing government.