New constitution team picked
2009-04-12 21:55
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Zimbabwe's speaker of Parliament on Sunday announced a 25-member committee drawn from both members of the house to oversee the drafting of a new constitution.
Drawn from both President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, the committee will have its first meeting on Monday.
The select committee sprang from the power sharing agreement signed on September 15, between Mugabe and Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said Lovemore Moyo, speaker of the house.
"A Constitution is a living and sacred document that we should all be proud of," Moyo told reporters.
The aim is to have a draft tabled by February 2010, with a referendum on July and a new constitution adopted by the end of the year. The draft would have to be introduced to Parliament by October next year, said Moyo.
Moyo said the new committee's approach would be informed by a "rejection of the draft referendum of 2000 draft constitution".
Zimbabwe held a constitutional referendum in 2000, but the proposal was rejected as critics said the published draft gave Mugabe too much power.
That led to a wave of farm invasions in which commercial farmers were pushed of the land, accused by Mugabe supporters of having lobbied against the proposal.
Representatives from rights groups, churches, the media, women's groups, labour and the farming community will help the committee's members draft the new constitution.
- AFP