Protest march planned

Opponents of President Robert Mugabe are planning a series of nationwide marches at the weekend to protest against a new draft constitution they say is flawed in favour of his ruling ZANU-PF party despite months of soliciting public opinion over a new constitution. Morgan Tsvangirai, general secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) told IRIN on Wednesday the marches were being planned in the country's five main towns on Saturday by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), which groups a range of civic organisations, women's' groups, youth groups, human rights activists and churches. It boycotted the official constitutional review and survey. Tsvangirai, himself a senior member of the NCA, described the constitutional exercise as "a huge fiasco": "People will be turning out to show they are against this draft constitution," he said. He said the protest was to mobilise Zimbabweans to reject the draft constitution as a document designed to further entrench the ruling party and the tenure of Mugabe who has been in power since independence in 1980. The government's constitutional commission - weighted heavily in favour of ZANU-PF and ruling party sympathisers - was created in May in answer to demands to reform an "outdated" constitution which vests immense power in the hands of the presidency. In countrywide meetings, some 100,000 people were canvassed for their views on what the government said should be a "people-centred" magna carta. However, the 106-page draft presented to Mugabe last week, reportedly rejects major proposals to restrict the powers of the presidency, introduce an executive prime minister, or cede significant power to parliament. Tsvangirai, who is also the leader of a new party called the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), added the country's labour unions were considering industrial action in protest against huge salary increases Mugabe awarded himself and the 54 members of his cabinet last week at a time inflation when is running at 70 percent. "This has been the most outrageous development of all - it comes at a time when the public are supposed to tighten their belts. Clearly the leadership are more worried about the risks to their own wellbeing than that of the public at large."