During the month of April, Kubatana opened up the phone lines, SMS receivers and email addresses to solicit questions about the Constitution making process from across Zimbabwe. Throughout May, Advocate Eric T. Matinenga, Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, answers these questions.

Every weekday, we will be posting a new question for people to listen to – phone 0914 186 280 up to 7 to listen to the answers now, in English, Shona and Ndebele.

Each week, we will also be posting the answers on www.kubatana.net

1. What is the purpose of the Constitution of Zimbabwe? How does the Constitution of Zimbabwe differ from an organisational Constitution – e.g. a youth group

Now, when we are talking about a Constitution, we are talking about a law which overrides any other law in the country. In legal parlance, it is called the Supreme Law of the Land. Because it is the supreme law of the land, everybody resident in that country is obliged to obey it. And anything or any law which is inconsistent with that Constitution is invalid. So you can see that whilst a Constitution should be obeyed by everybody in the country, the Constitution of a voluntary organisation only binds those members who belong to that organisation.

I notice that this question came from Mutare. So if you’ve got maybe the Sakubva choral society, it means that that society has got a Constitution which only binds the members of that organisation. I stay in Harare, and I’m not in their choir. So I’m not bound by the Constitution of that choral society. But, whether you’re a member of that choral society, or whether you are Minister Matinenga who is in Harare, if you are a resident of Zimbabwe, we are all bound by the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

2. Today’s question came from Kudzie, who asked How long is the Constitution making process going to take? When will the outreach programme start, and why has it been so delayed?

Firstly, Constitution making is a process. It is not an event. So when we hear people saying that there is nothing happening in the Constitution making process, one needs to know what is happening on the surface and what is going on in the background, so as to know whether we are still on track, or have gone off track.

We go back to February 2009 to start the Constitution making process in this country. And we go back even further to September 2008 to the agreement between the political parties as to how the Constitution making process should be conducted in this country. After February 2009, with the swearing in of the inclusive government, we were then obliged to put in place the Select Committee. That was done. We were then obliged to hold the first All Stakeholders Conference. That was done in July 2009. I think a lot of you, particularly those of you who have access to television, remember the real disturbance we had in July, and some of you will remember that after that disturbance, the three principals addressed a joint conference, and stated in very clear terms that the Constitution making process was not negotiable, and that this process will be seen to its very end. I am glad that the indications up to now are that we are on our way to fulfil this important requirement of the GPA, even though we are a bit slow.

Now after the First All Stakeholders Conference, we were able to establish Constitutional Themes, in respect of which persons identified are to address these themes. The persons who are going to address these themes have been identified. These are the persons who are going to take part in the outreach programme which will get under way very shortly. We have also trained the rapporterus, who are the persons who are going to be reporting what each and every person says during the outreach meetings.

The outreach programme will be rolled out, I believe, around the middle of May. It may be towards the end of May, but I am confident that come mid-May we will be able to roll it out.

After the outreach, the draft Constitution will then be crafted by the experts, and I can assure you that it is not going to be the Matinenga Draft. Nor is it going to be the Tsvangirai or Mugabe or Mutambara Draft. It is going to be a draft which is going to be crafted by experts who are going to be looking at what you said during the outreach, and who will then gather what you said into a draft Constitution.

After that draft has been done, we are going to go to a Second All Stakeholders Conference. From there, we go to a referendum, which gives you the people the chance to see whether what you said in the outreach is contained in the draft and is what is being presented to you in the referendum. I am sure that that will be in order and that what the people say is not going to be tampered with. I foresee, in terms of time table, that by April 2011 we should have a Constitution that has passed through Parliament and has been adopted by Zimbabwe.

3. Today’s question came from Philebon, who asked: What is the role of the Kariba Draft in the Constitution making process?

People must not fear. They must not be taken in when people say the Kariba Draft will determine the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Let me assure people that there is no special place for the Kariba Draft in the Constitution making process. What we have agreed as the three political parties is that the outreach team should be gathering information on the basis of talking points. These talking points have been agreed by the political parties, and whilst the persons involved are obviously not going to be too particular about these points – because they need to be as inclusive as possible – nobody is going to be waving the Kariba Draft, nor any other draft for that matter, in the outreach meetings. So people should feel free, when they attend these outreach meetings, that they need to contribute to the making of the Constitution for Zimbabwe.

4. In Matabeleland and Midlands, if there is no devolution of power we will vote no in the referendum. What is the position on devolution of power?

This comment is about how the people of Matabeleland and Midlands will respond if presented with a Constitution which they believe does not provide for devolution of power.

Now let me clarify this point. When you talk about devolution of power, we are not talking about devolution to particular provinces. When you talk of devolution of power, you are talking about devolution to every province, to every local authority. So it is not an issue which should only be a concern for Matabeleland or Midlands, it is an issue which should be a national concern. What is important is that the people in the Midalnds and Matabeleland provinces, and the people in all the other provinces, must understand what devolution is, and what they want for devolution in the Constitution, and then must articulate this position when the outreach programme comes to their area.

When you talk about devolution, you must talk about meaningful devolution. You must talk about both economic and political power at the local level. People talk about devolution and they say we have it now. But when you look at the type of devolution we have now, we have got a devolution which unfortunately answers to the central authority. Your governors are appointed by the President. Your local council answer to the Minister of Local Government. And when you look at economic devolution, you will find that there is really nothing at local level which builds local institutions. So when we are talking about devolution, we must know what we are talking about, and proceed to articulate positions for meaningful political and economic devolution.

5. Today’s question has come from a number of people, including Malile, Marlene, Peter and Cicely, who asked: What are the provisions for citizenship? How will citizenship by birth be determined?

When you talk about citizenship, you are talking about belonging – not in terms of a club, but in terms of the country. So if you belong to Zimbabwe, then you are a citizen of Zimbabwe. But you are only a citizen of Zimbabwe if you can trace that belonging, that citizenship, by birth – either because you were born here, or because your parents or grandparents were born in Zimbabwe. You can trace your citizenship by descent – because your parents or grandparents were Zimbabwean. Or by registration, whereby you have sufficiently stayed in Zimbabwe that the laws of Zimbabwe consider you as somebody who already is a Zimbabwean.

I know that this issue is a major concern in regards to two types of person. Firstly, this issue is a concern for those persons who come from neighbouring countries, or whose parents come from neighbouring countries, like Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique. These people were born in Zimbabwe, but in the last elections were rudely told that, because they claim another citizenship, they are not allowed to vote.

I also know that this issue arises for persons who were born in Zimbabwe, who have been in Zimbabwe for quite a bit of time, but who have been forced by circumstances to leave Zimbabwe and stay in other countries. This is what we call the Diaspora.

Now I have always held the view that it is very unfair that in 1980, the people whom we now call non-citizens were allowed to vote. And they voted for certain political parties. But because we now believe that maybe those persons are going to be voting differently, now those persons should not be allowed to vote because those persons are considered non-citizens.

I think this Constitution should address this very critical issue, and I think this Constitution should seek to make it possible for persons who are born in this country to enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, to enjoy the right to vote, and the right to hold a passport. Also, when you look at the Diaspora, I think it is also important that, until such time that we get our politics and our economics right, that we should allow for what we call dual citizenship so that these people in the Diaspora are able to participate in the political and economic activities of this country.

You can listen to the Minister answer these questions here and view pictures too.

If you have a question on the Constitution that you’d like him to address, please leave a comment on this blog.

Here’s a new initiative from Amnesty International:

Amnesty International is releasing a social network that watches over tyrannical leaders from all over the world who attack Human Rights. This way, it seeks to form a global community of Human Rights defenders, making the contact between the public and Amnesty’s promoting causes easier. This network will have the designation of Tyrannybook.

With the visibility inherent to these social networks, Amnesty hopes to get more support to its causes. This being, calls upon everyone to embrace this digital tool which updates the current situation of countries led by these tyrants. With this Amnesty is trying to generate a wider awareness of the various atrocities that are committed all over the world. The participation of all those who are already actively involved in these causes is essential in order to complement it with information, news, and, not least, reports of living experiences.

This is the first version of the site. And like all social networks, it will grow and be constantly updated with new tools and features that are to be implemented. Each week Tyrannybook will win both size and presence on the web.

Residents in Ruwa are in a state of shock and disbelief after an 8-year-old girl was raped, killed and dumped in nearby fields. Even Grade Seven children are now accompanied to the Thorncroft School, for the fear that anything can happen. One prominent name behind all this is a 22-year-old man called Jeremiah Mazarura alias Joro. A young man well known in the area as Joro.  In Ruwa, any behavior that denotes heartlessness is refereed to as that of Joro.

To those that saw Joro soon after the incident, he was by no means a different man. As normal and happy as usual, even after the police released him. At first, no one could really tell that the blood of the little girl was fresh on his hands. Even at the burial of the girl, witnesses’ say that Joro was as affected and worried as any other shocked person in the locality.

Every Ruwa resident is desperately waiting for the 11th of May. A day set for the appearance of Joro and friends in court over this murder case.

The press reports that the motive behind the killing was the need to stop the girl from reporting the rape or making any signals. The community holds a different view. The belief in the gossip is that the girl was killed for some business purpose since the child was found without some body parts.

Joro’s is not the only weird story around; people are taking lives for the purpose of rituals that only the nyangas (traditional magicians) can tell their meaning. One wonders what has happened to moral and peace loving Zimbabweans? Human life has been reduced to that of a simple monkey or chicken. Why are citizens becoming this bloodthirsty? Can we put the blame on the tough time we have been in and are still enduring; that of political, economic and social difficulties? Before, these stories were really foreign to Zimbabweans. Now what is happening? Can this be one of the disadvantages of globalization? It is really disturbing and inhumane.

It is important that the courts be exemplary in giving tough punishment to these murderers. People should be freed from living in fear. They need smiles back on their faces, and peace and tranquility should exist in communities. Love for money and success should not be at the expense of human life. If these murders are done with “nyangas” and business people behind them, it is high time such culprits are traced to the root.

Empowerment. Gender Equity. Gender mainstreaming. Youth agenda. These have all become buzzwords without a real meaning. They represent lofty paper ideals but seldom translate into any qualitative or quantitative transformation. Zimbabwe, like Africa is faced by a multitude of problems, none of which can be solved by catchy slogans and high visibility, low output awareness campaigns. When the dust of the road shows has settled and the last echo of the slogan has faded away, we find that the problems have not gone away.

I feel that our biggest problem as a nation is that we won’t allow ourselves to think beyond a certain point. In the eighties and nineties, education was all the rage. Before the present educational crisis, we boasted of having one of the highest literacy rates on the continent. Yet, we are at the very bottom of the heap socially, economically and politically. It is very clear that education alone does not solve problems. It seems that we have become a nation that is too educated to take risks. When the economy was plagued with hyperinflation and subject to the whim of the Reserve Bank Governor, the educated fled and became another buzzword, economic migrants.

A new millennium brought with it new buzzwords like globalisation, and development. Now, Aid has become big business. I would wager any amount that the non-governmental sector rivals any government in being the biggest single employer. NGOs do work that is often necessary. They fill in the gaps that governments so often miss, because of corruption and mismanagement. Regardless, they are founded on the principle of giving without requiring the receiver to do any work. Aid creates dependency, nowhere else is that more obvious than right here at home. It has been almost ten years; Zimbabwe has had a healthy NGO sector for longer than that, yet we are no closer to our development goals than when we started.

In truth, our problem from the beginning has been a lack of creativity and innovation. Yes we have a large skill set, yes we are highly educated, but without creativity and innovation we are a nation of donor dependent employees, not proud self-sufficient employers. Solutions must come from us, not via Western Union money gram or another donor funded feeding scheme.

A recent report from the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) mentioned that the Mayor of Gweru has recently bought himself a spiffy new car, presumably with council funds. With political representatives like this who needs a government?

The residents of Gweru have raised an outcry at the insensitivity and lack of prioritisation that has been displayed by the City Council in purchasing a top of the range Toyota Prado for use by the Mayor. Residents have said that the Gweru City Council had been crying foul about its bankruptcy and yet they have managed to buy an expensive car while service delivery suffers. Gweru has been hit by acute water shortages and during the few days that residents get water, the water is usually not clean. Council has attributed the poor water quality to lack of money to buy water treatment chemicals. The roads in the city have become a nightmare and death traps to motorists as they are infested with deep potholes.

Read this article on slum clearance South Africa-style written by Dan McDougall.

Red Ants beat residents of Alexandra Township with crowbars

WAVING iron bars and pickaxes, the Red Ants, a rented mob of thugs in bright red overalls and crimson helmets, used the half-light of dawn for cover as they marched into the slum. Stamping out the first cooking fires of the day with heavy boots, they spread out in a long line. Then they attacked.

Bleary immigrant women dropped plastic water containers and ran in panic towards their corrugated iron homes. “Grab the children,” they screamed.

By sunrise their shacks on the outskirts of Johannesburg had been razed. They were forced to watch as their few possessions were burnt.

The Red Ants, described as state-sponsored mercenaries by their critics, have become a growing force in the past few months as South African cities have begun a campaign of “beautification” before the World Cup begins in June. This means clearing away unsightly immigrant squatter camps.

This month, more than 100 Zimbabweans were beaten and evicted by Red Ants from a derelict building on the main road to Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg, one of the football tournament’s main venues.

It followed a series of Red Ant evictions ordered by the provincial department of public transport along main roads within a mile of the stadium, which will host five matches. Hundreds more Zimbabweans were forcibly evicted from properties in central Johannesburg.

Red Ants also flattened more than 100 shacks within a two-mile radius of the Mbombela stadium, near the Kruger national park. Most of those evicted were Zimbabwean.

Human rights groups are warning of a return to xenophobic violence that led to the deaths of scores of immigrants during township riots in 2008.

According to Braam Hanekom, chairman of Passop, a refugee rights charity based in Cape Town, the Red Ants are doing the government’s dirty work. “They are essentially a militia that ruthlessly and forcefully displaces people from their shelters under government instructions,” he said. “They are notorious for their brutal and violent approach towards the poor.”

The ruling African National Congress regards beautification as a policy that extends beyond the building of new stadiums, roads and airports. It sees the World Cup as an opportunity to showcase its achievements since it came to power 16 years ago.

Attacks have increased on immigrants drawn to South Africa by the hope of work on projects for the tournament. And the onslaught may intensify after the World Cup. Unemployment, already at 27%, is expected to rise as thousands of construction jobs disappear. In the run-up to local elections next year, many politicians are expected to exploit fears that immigrants are “stealing” jobs.

The South African commission for human rights said it had been bombarded by claims from immigrants that they had been warned they would be “dealt with” after the tournament.

Lawrence Mushwana, the commission’s chairman, said: “African foreigners living in South Africa must brace themselves for a new wave of xenophobic attacks after the World Cup is over.”

Walter Da Costa, chairman of a migrant support group in Johannesburg, believes local authorities bear responsibility for much of the violence. Council agents pay the Red Ants and give them their distinctive uniform on a casual basis, he said.

“As they are recruited from the bottom rung of the ladder, is it surprising that their actions usually amount to little more than intimidation and terrible violence?”

Many Red Ants are drawn from vigilante groups in townships in Durban and Johannesburg which are already intent on ridding the country of immigrants. They routinely refer to migrant families as “parasites” and “cockroaches”.

“We will not stop beating them until our work is done, until they leave this land forever,” a Red Ant member in Soweto told The Sunday Times.

“It’s our land and we have the right to help the authorities move them on. If the municipality asks us to destroy these cockroaches then we’ll do that and flatten their homes to dust.”

Attacks by the Red Ants and a growing number of vigilante groups are nationwide. In the Breede Valley, in the Western Cape, more than 1,200 Zimbabwean refugees struggle to survive in a camp built on a rugby field. Many are victims of Red Ant raids in the north; others have been burnt out of their homes by hate mobs.

“I was among a few hundred Zimbabwean refugees taking shelter in the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg when the Red Ants came and sprayed us with brown sewage water,” said Chenzera Ndbele, 14. “When we moved to a local slum with my mother they came back with pickaxes. When they forced us out they made us watch as they burnt our belongings.”

Dorcas Chinomera, 17, a refugee from Zimbabwe, recalled the day when a mob arrived outside her shanty home in De Doorns, two hours’ drive from Cape Town. “They were screaming ‘kweri kweri’ [parasites] at us. They spat in our faces and stole our furniture and burnt our home to the ground as the police looked on.”