NOW is the time to debate the Consitution
In my mind this is not only an entirely legitimate request, it’s also an essential one, that is, of course, if the Unity Government believes ‘the people’ count:
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) is filing an urgent High Court application this morning seeking an extension of the referendum date which was gazetted on Friday 15 February 2013. The government set the 16th of March 2013 for the conduct of the referendum were Zimbabweans will be asked to vote YES or NO for the draft constitution.
The NCA is seeking an extension of at least two months for the conduct of the referendum counting from the day gazetted by government. We strongly feel that Zimbabweans should be given adequate time to scrutinise the draft constitution and be allowed to make an informed decision on what they will be voting for.
We view this move to have the referendum on the 16th of March as a ploy by the parties in government to deny Zimbabweans a chance to scrutinise the flawed and undemocratic draft which they authored.
Further we wish to dismiss the ridiculous proclamations by the government that they will be distributing only 100 000 copies of the draft, and yet Zimbabwe has a population of more than 13 million people.