HARARE – The committee spearheading Zimbabwe’s constitutional reforms has agreed on appointment of rapporteurs who will be collating information on people’s input into the proposed new charter during public consultations, an official said on Thursday.

"The select committee will announce raporteurs," Douglas Mwonzora, co-chairperson of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) told ZimOnline.

COPAC, which is made up of representatives of the three political parties in the country’s coalition government – President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara’s MDC-M – last week postponed launch of its outreach programme because of disagreements over impartiality of the rapporteurs.

But COPAC found common ground after Monday’s meeting in the capital to review the problems related to the appointment of the rapporteurs.

"We are going to appoint rapporteurs, we will appoint them in such a way that no one is excluded," said Mwonzora.

The MDC lawmaker also said international donors will continue to fund the constitutional reform programme despite weekend press reports that the financiers had pulled out.

"The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) will provide US$2 million and other donors will provide US$19 million," he said.

“There is no change to the issue of funding, contrary to what appeared (in the state-controlled press). The management committee met with the UNDP over the issue of funding and to get the correct information on the issue of other funding.”

The COPAC management committee includes Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga, COPAC’s three co-chairmen and negotiators of the global political agreement that set up the country’s power-sharing administration.

German ambassador to Harare Albrecht Conze, who chairs a group of 11 major donors partly funding Zimbabwe’s constitutional reform – Australia, Canada, Denmark, EU-delegation, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States – said the international community still remains committed to funding the outreach programme.

"The international community remains committed to support the people-driven constitution making process which is vital for the country's future political stability," Conze said.

“We have agreed to disburse funding towards work plans and budgets prepared by the Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Committee,” he added.

Observers fear holdups such as last the postponement of the outreach exercise to gather the views of citizens will likely further delay the reforms that have already missed several targets.

The proposed new constitution – which Zimbabweans hope will guarantee human rights, strengthen the role of Parliament and curtail the president's powers, as well as guaranteeing civil, political and media freedoms – is part of the requirements of the power-sharing deal between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara.

The new governance charter will pave way for free elections although there is no legal requirement for the unity government to call new polls immediately after a new constitution is in place.

The new constitution will replace the current Lancaster House Constitution written in 1979 before independence from Britain. The charter has been amended 19 times since independence in 1980. Critics say the majority of the amendments have been to further entrench Mugabe and ZANU PF’s hold on power. – ZimOnline