Fear shadows Zimbabwe's constitution forums (News Feature)

By Jan Raath Jun 30, 2010, 2:01 GMT

Bindura, Zimbabwe - The indications seemed promising as the Zimbabwe coalition government began its outreach to hear citizens express what they want in a new democratic constitution.

Men and women sat separately, per custom, in the dust under a thorn tree late last week at the Progress business centre in this run-down former agricultural hub 90 km north-east of Harare. They rose one by one politely to tell the team from the constitutional committee how they felt.

The meeting was one of the first in a 14-week programme that aims to tease out the national mood for the basic law on rights, freedoms and form of government. Seventy 12-member teams of moderators and recorders are visiting each of 210 parliamentary constituencies.

The outreach programme of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) was set up by the agreement that established the rickety coalition government between autocrat President Robert Mugabe and pro-democracy Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai 16 months ago.

The programme aims to produce raw material for a democratic, people-driven constitution. The document faces referendum sometime next year, and if approved would form the basis of an election.

The outreach is already 10 months behind schedule, and the meeting in Bindura last Thursday was one of the first. But although the intent was to record the voice of the people, there are reports of assaults, violence and even house burnings allegedly by Mugabe supporters, reminiscent of the 2008 elections.

In Bindura, local resident Gibbs Matenyu immediately spotted problems in the crowd of 100: three state intelligence agents, three plainclothes police and an undercover policeman.

'This is a small town. We all know each other. Most of these people have been bussed in from the resettlement areas,' he said, referring to militants from Mugabe's ZANU (PF) party who took over white-owned farms starting in 2000.

People responded to questions on an eight-page list about whether they wanted a presidency with wide powers or not, the virtues of a single versus bicameral parliament and who they believed should appoint judges.

In Bindura, the same four or five people spoke while everyone else watched in silence. The polite tone at the beginning turned strident as they argued with the moderators and against changing the constitution, which now grants Mugabe absolute power.

Human rights organisations have warned that ZANU(PF), particularly in rural areas, had a strategy to make sure that people who attend the Operation Chimhumhumhu meetings play dumb. Ordinary people have been threatened with retribution if they do not stay quiet, the groups say.

The Zimbabwe Independent Constitution Monitoring Project - an alliance of three of the country's best-known human rights groups - warned in a statement that the reform process would not be people- driven because of the 'cumulative effect of intimidation, harassment, violence and a generally repressive atmosphere.'

After a meeting at an orphanage, officials from Tsvangirai's MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) party were fuming.

'This is a town that the MDC won hands down in 2008,' said one person who identified himself as Mhene. 'Most of the people here were brought in trucks from out of town and have been dominating the meeting.'

At a meeting at a play centre, the crowd of about 300 was also drawn from the resettlement farms on Bindura's outskirts, according to MDC councillor Elizabeth Mafios.

'They were unruly and disruptive,' she said.

She described how she spoke out in favour of restoration of freehold title to property rights, taken away and nationalised by Mugabe in rural areas in 2005.

'They started shouting at me to shut up, that I was talking nonsense, bullshit. It was very unpleasant,' she said.

Since last week, violence at the talk forums has escalated.

On Sunday, in northern Zimbabwe, three members of a human rights coalition who were monitoring the outreach sessions were assaulted by ZANU(PF) youths with sticks. Two suffered head injuries.

In the east of the country, two other monitors from the same group were arrested on charges of 'practising journalism without a licence.' They were freed after a night in jail but still faced trial.

Late last week, MDC officials received reports that a meeting on a resettled farm had turned violent when speakers failed to toe the ZANU(PF) line. They said four people had gone missing, but it was not clear if they had run away or been abducted.

In the town of Chinhoyi 100 km north-west of Harare, three meetings were reported to have been broken up by ZANU(PF) militants. In Mudzi in the remote north-east of the country, four MDC supporters had their homes burnt down, MDC officials said.

The coalition agreement was stitched together by South African mediators in 2008 amidst a ruined economy and after the bloody presidential election run-off that saw 200 killed and thousands others assaulted. Mugabe was declared winner of the contest that was dismissed by many in the rest of the world as a violent fraud.

Two years later, many Zimbabweans are fearful that another murderous onslaught is waiting in the wings.