Zimbabwe's constitutional drafts

Constitution-making is not a new phenomenon is Zimbabwean history. Over the last 31 years of its existence the sovereign nation of Zimbabwe has had one constitution and three major draft constitutions. More recently, the Law Society of Zimbabwe compiled its own model constitution. None of these constitutional drafts have been adopted formally. Zimbabwe is undergoing yet another constitution-making process that is being led by Parliament, in terms of the Interparty Political Agreement signed in September 2008 by the three major political parties represented in Parliament. This process is not being undertaken in a vacuum as these other documents already exist and are supported by different stakeholders. The three drafts that have been proposed by various stakeholders have not been formally adopted for various reasons. The Constitutional Commission draft was even the subject of a referendum, with the majority of Zimbabweans voting against its adoption as it did not subscribe to the minimum standards of constitutionalism. This publication reviews key provisions of the three major constitutional drafts (the Constitutional Commission draft, the National Commission Assembly draft and the Kariba draft) and the provisions of the current (Lancaster House) Constitution of Zimbabwe. It seeks to set out critical issues which should be addressed in any constitution under various thematic areas, and to provide guidance to a host of stakeholders--from members of the public, members of Parliament, constitutional committees, and even constitutional drafters. Since popular participation of citizens continues to remain lacking, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights believes that this publication can be used as guidance on key principles and provisions that must be incorporated in a constitution for it to conform to the minimum standards of constitutionalism.