Talk, talk: Zimbabwe’s constitutional referendum
The political environment that is hostile to democratic engagement still exists. – Ozias Tungawara, Director of the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project on there being a misplaced perception that a Yes vote for the draft constitution will deliver a credible election. (on SW Radio Africa)
The clampdown on dissent that is being witnessed in Zimbabwe currently is entirely at odds with the expanded bill of rights proposed by the new constitution. – Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International.
Let me say something about the draft constitution. There is nothing wrong with it, nothing at all. – Robert Mugabe (Deutsche Welle online)
We are going into the referendum to vote for it because local political and traditional leadership have said we must vote ‘Yes’ and this is what we will do. We also like the document because it limits presidential term limits and this is something positive given where we are coming from. – Jack Jimu, Talking Harare, CORAH’s newsletter
We hear that our children will go to primary schools without paying anything and this is very positive. – Miriam Manjoro on why she is voting Yes in the Referendum, Talking Harare, CORAH’s newsletter
Whilst it is good that there is a new constitution, I do not think it is going to change anything because we have seen good laws in the country being ignored when it comes to implementation. For example we have seen people being arrested, detained for a long time and then discharged without charge yet the country’s laws prohibit this. What is needed is to have leadership that respects its people first and then everything will follow. – Stephen Murefu, on why he is voting No in the Referendum, Talking Harare, CORAH’s newsletter
This constitution did not come from the people, I think you still remember people were forced to attend the meetings and coached by politicians on what to say. Even after that, the so-called principals went on to make unilateral changes to what had come out and so clearly, this is not a people’s document. – Maxwell Marembo on the Referendum, Talking Harare, CORAH’s newsletter