Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

In Zimbabwe, the political debate continues to centre on the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which stipulates a number of political reforms agreed upon by the parties in the current Government of National Unity. One central element of the GPA concerns constitutional reform, which has been an area of contestation between parties since the late 1990’s. In the coming months, a Parliamentary Select Committee will conduct a public consultation process, after which it is to submit a new draft constitution to Parliament. The result will be subject to a public referendum by mid 2010.

Over the last months ZI has played a significant role in the constitutional reform process. In May it organised a series of meetings to help stakeholders make a work plan for the public consultation process. Attending these sessions were experts such as the South African political heavyweights Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer (former ANC and NP constitutional negotiators), and Pravin Gordhan (current Finance Minister).

On July 13, ZI co-organised an All Stakeholders Conference to prepare public consultations on constitutional reform, which will take place in November. ZI played an advisory role and funded basic equipment such as recording devices. Prior to the conference, ZI had already organised ten Provincial Consultative Meetings that aimed at informing and selecting representatives for the national meeting.

In the months ahead, NIMD and ZI will continue to facilitate the constitutional reform process. Apart from their efforts to engage representatives from all three parties in government in a constructive dialogue, the partner organisations will also focus on bridging the gap between civil society and political society.