ALL three political parties in Zimbabwe’s power sharing government AGREED to use the ‘Kariba Draft’ constitution as the basis of a new constitution, the pact’s negotiators have said.

Five of the six negotiators to the September 15 ‘Global Political Agreement’ (GPA) released a statement (read) on Tuesday “to clarify and explain what the three parties to the GPA agreed to be the place and role of the Kariba Draft Constitution within the constitution making process”.

Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC-M), Nicholas Goche, Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu PF), Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti (MDC-T) were the six negotiators who secured agreement on the terms of a power sharing pact which gave birth to a unity government in February.

All but Biti signed the statement dated July 23, but made available to New Zimbabwe.com on Tuesday.

The negotiators said they signed the statement to “restore, reaffirm and defend the co-operative spirit among the parties to the agreement, which co-operative spirit is absolutely essential and indeed is a pre-condition for a successful conclusion to the agreed constitution-making process”.

They added: “We hereby place it on record that the Agreement of the parties was that the Kariba Draft which was negotiated, agreed to and initiated by all three parties to the GPA would be used by the parties through the Parliamentary Select Committee to consult people on the new content of a new constitution of Zimbabwe.

“The agreement being that the Select Committee would take the Kariba Draft to the people and consult them on which provisions of the draft they agreed with and accepted; and which ones they did not agree with.

“In respect of those they did not agree with, the people would be asked what alternative provisions they wanted in their place.”
The statement is a dagger in the political strategy of the MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai which has been trying to repudiate the Kariba Draft.

In a June 23 statement, the party accused President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF of "trying to foist ... the Kariba Draft on the people of Zimbabwe".

But the negotiators appeared in their statement to respond directly to that charge, insisting: “The agreement of the parties did not seek to foist the Kariba Draft on the people but merely to provide a structured way of consulting the people so as to determine what exactly was acceptable and not acceptable to them.

“It is plain that the use of the Kariba Draft as an instrument of consulting the people does not in anyway detract from their unfettered right to determine the content of the constitution they want.”

The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) pressure group warned in June that the process to write Zimbabwe’s new constitution was dominated by competing political interests and would yield a flawed document.

In a radio debate with Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga (MDC-T) who said the Kariba Draft would not be a “determining factor”, NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku said: “We don’t believe that is what will happen. What we believe will happen is that at the end of the process, you’ll get that Kariba Draft being the draft that will be used.”

Madhuku said if the Tsvangirai-led MDC wanted a “fresh start”, they “should not have insisted on a process that they are controlling”.

He added: “The whole point of controlling that process is obviously to control the outcome.

“So Matinenga may say what he is saying but he is not the main player in this game, the main players in this game are the President of the country and maybe the Prime Minister - and my suspicion which is borne by political events on the ground is that the President will ultimately prevail in this matter …”

Mugabe told Zanu PF supporters at the end of June that “the constitution should not differ from the Kariba Draft because we agreed with the MDC and signed an agreement endorsing the draft”.

He added: “Our people have got to be very careful and take precautions not to be derailed, not to be led away from the Kariba Draft. We will make the draft available.”

Mugabe was immediately ridiculed by MDC-T spokesmen at the time as enunciating the Zanu PF position.

The parties hope a new constitution to be completed within a year will lead to free and fair elections. But the process may be still-born if Tsvangirai’s MDC and Zanu PF rigidly hold firm to their current positions.