Zimbabweans’ priorities for the new Constitution

Given that both Zanu PF and MDC-T were campaigning for a Yes Vote in last weekend’s Constitutional Referendum, it’s not surprising that the Referendum passed by a wide margin, and the Draft Constitution will go before Parliament soon.

But as the case of Beatrice Mtetwa recently demonstrated, it’s one thing to have a Constitution, and another thing to follow it.

With this in mind, Kubatana recently solicited Zimbabweans’  priorities for the new Constitution via text message. We received hundreds of replies, and by far the most pressing concerns were for respect for human rights (including freedom of speech, media freedoms and freedom of assembly), adherence to the rule of law, security sector reform and free and fair elections. The word cloud above is a visual representation of all subscribers’ responses.

Where possible, we mapped this feedback as well, and we found over 200 points on a map of Zimbabwe, with subscribers sharing their priorities from across the country. Link to the interactive map below, and click on individual points to read these subscribers’ feedback in their own words, by location and category.

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Beatrice Mtetwa granted bail, reports Reuters, after more than a week in custody. Sanity has finally prevailed after the High Court granted Zimbabwe’s prominent human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa $500 bail.

I found myself feeling enormously relieved – But also angry at my relief. Of course, it’s good news that this inspiring, powerful woman has been released, and that she hasn’t had to wait until 3 April, as determined by the Magistrate last week.

But the fact that she has been in custody for over a week is an injustice. Her “crime?” Acting as a lawyer for her clients, and asking the police to see their search warrant and requesting an inventory of items seized from her client. In the meantime, she’s suffered the harsh conditions of Harare’s prisons on remand for a week, been bundled from one police station to another, and missed untold court appointments – meaning that her clients are also delayed access to justice.

It’s a relief for her sake that she’s been granted bail. But it’s an insult to justice in Zimbabwe that she was detained in the first place, never mind held in custody for eight nights.

Beatrice Mtetwa remanded to 3 April

Zimbabwe’s prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has been remanded in custody to 3 April. Her incarceration is a national disgrace and an outrage.

Reuters reports: “Mtetwa was arrested on Sunday and and accused of shouting at and taking pictures of police officers who were conducting a search at the house of one of Tsvangirai’s aides.”

According to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, of which Mtetwa is a board member, her offence was simply asking the police to see their search warrant, and writing down a list of what was being taken by the police.

She has been detained along with four aides from the Prime Minister’s office.

In denying the bail application of Mtetwa and the four aides today, Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa said they would “continue to cause commotion and interfere with police investigations”.

Zimbabwe’s Education Minister David Coltart responded via Twitter: How ridiculous – where are the cartoonists out there – the diminutive Beatrice Mtetwa terrifying a bunch of huge policemen?

Constitutional referendum reports – Kubatana asked our SMS subscribers to share their eye-witness reports from polling stations and voting day during Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitutional Referendum. We also collected and mapped incident reports submitted by Zimbabwe’s NGOs who were observing the process via the Situation Room. This word cloud shares the observations of more than 600 citizen reporters and 60 NGO incident reports.

Last updated: 12 noon, Monday March 18, 2013

The Situation Room is a joint Zimbabwean civil society initiative to report on Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Referendum.

This map shares incident reports received by the Situation Room and its civil society partners.

You can view the map full screen here

You can also view the map information in table form here

View 600+ citizen reports from the field here

We will regularly update this map and table as we receive new reports.

These incidents include verified reports, such as those received, verified and confirmed by civil society organisations, and unverified reports, those received from citizen journalists which have not yet been verified. Each incident report indicates whether it is a verified report or not.

We will be updating the map throughout the election period to provide an overview of the election environment during Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Referendum.

Members of the Situation Room include: Counselling Services Unit (CSU), Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), Heal Zimbabwe, Kubatana, National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH), The Women’s Trust, Women’s Coalition, Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT), Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).

The Referendum Polling Stations provisional list for on Kubatana has now been updated and covers the whole country! Specifically:

• Harare
• Bulawayo
• Manicaland
• Mashonaland East
• Mashonaland Central
• Mashonaland West
• Masvingo
• Matabeleland North
• Matabeleland South
• Midlands

Take a look so you know where to vote Saturday in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Referendum.

Also, if you’re in Harare or Bulawayo, try our clickable maps for these provinces – just click on a shaded area of the map for a list of nearby polling stations near you.