Referendum on draft constitution set for February

A referendum on Zimbabwe’s controversial draft constitution is to be held next month, President Robert Mugabe announced on Wednesday. In a government gazette he said that Zimbabweans will have the opportunity to either endorse or dismiss the draft constitution on 12 and 13 February. In his reaction to the announcement Welshman Ncube, spokesman for the opposition National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), told IRIN on Thursday: “We have always thought that the time given for the whole process was not enough, and we feel that the time been given to prepare for such a referendum is totally inadequate.” “The problem is that there is no simplified version of the document. It is a very bulky document which even lawyers have difficulty understanding. How then do we expect ordinary people especially in the rural areas that can barely read and write to understand it and then based on that understanding vote yes or no,” Ncube said. The NCA groups together a number of opposition parties, trade unions, civil society organisations and human rights groups, who are campaigning for a ‘no’ vote. In May last year Mugabe created the Constitutional Review Commission to respond to demands to reform the present constitution. During the process an estimated 100,000 people were surveyed on what they thought the new constitution should contain and among the proposals put forward was that the powers of the president be limited. Those views, opponents say, have not been properly reflected in the draft document.