The parliamentary select committee in charge of revising Zimbabwe's constitution has some mopping up to do to finish the public comment or outreach phase with 14 meetings to be organized in Harare and provincial locations.
Committee Co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora said the meetings still to be held following a round of about 50 in Harare on the weekend include one at St. Johns Retreat in Harare South where violence broke out with one person stabbed and several arrested, and a number in Manicaland’s Makoni South and Nyanga North constituencies.
Launched in June, the constitutional revision outreach process encountered many organizational, logistical, financial and political problems - the last of which became increasingly severe as public comment neared its conclusion. Observers noted widespread intimidation of citizens, allegedly by supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, in an attempt to ensure that those speaking at such meetings would hew to the party's line on the constitution.
Mwonzora told VOA Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that once funds have been raised to cover expenses related to the last meetings, residents of those areas will have an opportunity to express their views.
