Zimbabweans approve new constitution
By Tichaona Sibanda
19 March 2013
Zimbabwe’s new constitution received overwhelming approval from voters in a
referendum on Saturday, according to final results released by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Tuesday.
Nearly 95 percent of voters approved the constitution, compared with 5.5
percent who voted No, and the total votes cast has turned out to be the
highest in any poll since Independence in 1980, beating the previous record
set in the 2002 presidential election.
In that poll, pitting Robert Mugabe against Morgan Tsvangirai, 3,046,891
voted. Saturday’s referendum attracted 3,259, 454 votes.
A total of 3,079,966 people (representing 94.5 percent) voted Yes while 179,
489 voted No. There were 56,627 spoilt papers. The results were announced in
Harare by the ZEC chief election officer, Lovemore Sekeramayi.
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said every
Zimbabwean should be happy with the result of the referendum.
‘What is more important is the number of votes polled which is the highest
in the history of elections of this country. This comment that the result is
not legitimate is not serious,’ he said.
The constitution’s supporters declared that Zimbabwe had entered a new era
and the charter’s approval paves the way for elections, likely to be held by
July this year.
‘The people have spoken loudly in favour of democratic change. There can be
nothing more people driven than this,’ Minister of State in the Prime
Minister’s office Jameson Timba said on his Facebook page.
He added: ‘The total valid votes cast are 55 percent of total registered
voters hence the referendum is credible and legitimate and represents the
will of the people.’
The referendum comes five years after violence erupted following the 2008
elections, which were marred by allegations of vote rigging and fraud. More
than 500 people were killed in the state sponsored and politically motivated
attacks. Hundreds of thousands were displaced.
A new constitution was a key provision of a power-sharing deal that ended
the violence. In the run-up to Saturday’s vote, many Zimbabweans had feared
that violence would again come back to haunt the country following its
resurgence in some parts of the country.
But analysts believe it passed off peacefully because both President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were in favor of the
constitution, ensuring that most Zimbabweans would support its passage.
The constitution, which Mugabe must sign into law, limits the president’s
stay in power to two five year terms. The charter also provides for the
establishment of a National Prosecuting Authority, fixed terms for service
chiefs and heads of parastatals and other government institutions and
creates institutions that (in theory) are supposed to promote democracy,
peace, transparency and accountability.
Some individuals and organizations opposed the constitution, saying it was
nothing more than a political process, worked out between the three
political parties in the unity government and that it did not reflect the
will of the people.
Blessing Vava, spokesman for the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA),
wrote on his Facebook page saying: ‘This process was just a battle in the
war for democratic change in our lifetime. We lost the battle but the war is
on until total victory…we will never betray the generational mission to
realize all the Peoples Charter and Convention objectives…No retreat No
Surrender.”
ZANU PF’s COPAC co-chairman Paul Mangwana said the margin of the referendum’s
success is testimony that it represented the wishes of the Zimbabwean
people.
‘Yesterday we were called sellouts, but today people have shown that we are
not sellouts. We are extremely happy with the massive endorsement this
referendum has received, especially given that it has recorded the highest
number of votes since independence,’ Mangwana added.
His MDC-T counterpart, Douglas Mwonzora, expressed the hope that the peace
that prevailed during the referendum will be repeated during the harmonized
poll in a few months time.
‘There was a 26 percent increase of people who voted in the referendum than
the 2008 elections because then there was war waged against the people and
massive intimidation.
‘In this referendum, there was no intimidation, no war and no forced
disappearances. This extra 26 percent number of extra voters represents the
intimidated voters in 2008,’ Mwonzora said.
Votes by province –
http://www.swradioafrica.com/Documents/votesbyprovince.pdf