What does Zimbabwe's civic groups want?

What does Zimbabwe's civic groups want?

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By Aaron Mtombeni

IT IS not only disheartening but mind boggling to hear civic society crying foul over the position taken by the two formations of the MDC to support Constitutional Amendment No. 18.

They claim that the two formations have sold out. At one point these very same organisations were complaining that the two formations should work together for the good of Zimbabwe but now that they have stood together in support of the Amendment, they are getting a lashing for it because they did something that civic society did not sanction first!

I thought we had learnt from history (the 2000 Constitution referendum vote) that whenever there is a chance to change the current Zimbabwean constitution for the better, let us use that platform no matter how small the concessions are!

Can NCA, NANGO, Crisis Coalition and others tell us what it is that they find objectionable about Constitutional Amendment No. 18 instead of engaging in this "piecemeal amendment" mantra?

Can they tell the nation what it is in terms of the new legal provisions that will be lost by the citizens as a result of the two MDC formations’ support of the Constitutional Amendment No. 18?

Otherwise civic society is simply joining the gallery of those parroting the "Mugabe must go" chorus without providing a formula of how this will be achieved.

That through Amendment No. 18, parliament and not the people, is going to choose a successor to the President when he retires, dies, or is incapacitated whilst in office, should be made an issue that people will go to town about, is not only naive but also hypocritical.

Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister, handed over power to Gordon Brown recently under similar constitutional circumstances. Most African countries, Zimbabwe included, hail Britain as a model of democracy. What is wrong with having those constitutional provisions adopted by Zimbabwe when the same provisions are being implemented elsewhere and are achieving the results that are in the interest of the citizens?

At one point civic society said the Mbeki-led SADC initiative was a waste of time and a useless exercise which would not yield anything. In the same breath, the same civic society was crying for a seat at the negotiating table.

Then we heard that civic society representatives had gone to South Africa to meet the leader of the SADC negotiating team. Meeting the leader of a process they called "useless"! What clumsy hypocrisy!

What does Zimbabwean civic society want? Can they please tell the nation what they real want? Otherwise we will assume that their approach to resolving the national crisis is premised on the misconception that any new constitution for Zimbabwe has to be ushered in through an NCA inspired process in order for it to be acceptable to the nation.

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