Zimbo's must craft their own Constitution

The MDC dismisses the usual puerile propaganda by the public media that the party’s MPs and the leadership have crossed paths over the Constitution principles that were unanimously adopted on 13 September 2009 by the national council, the MDC’s supreme policy making organ. 

It is our conviction that all positions in the current Constitution-making process must contest on the market-place for Zimbabweans to judge and make their own unfettered contributions. We do not believe in the supremacy of a single draft, whether it is the Kariba draft, the Gutu draft, the Tsholotsho draft, the Zvimba draft, the Harvest House draft or any other draft for that matter. 

Zimbabweans must write their own Constitution. The MDC has simply restated its general principles that define the positions we have articulated over the years. It is erroneous for The Herald to define our principles as a draft because we have not sought to write a Constitution but to define general principles guiding our beliefs and social democratic ideology.

It is erroneous and mischievous for The Herald to insinuate that a document developed by the party, which was adopted by the various party organs and encapsulates the values that bind us as a political family, is an imposition on anyone in the same party. 

The MDC has no regrets about developing its own Constitution position which captures its democratic values and principles. These are our positions which we do not intend to foist on anyone. 

We have always made it clear that we believe in an expanded bill of rights and we do not believe in the death sentence.

These are our founding values and beliefs which run in our blood and we have restated this position in the current Constitution-making process. We have not sought to foist our position on the people as Zanu PF is doing with the Kariba draft. 

The MDC family remains united on these principles because they have always defined who we are as a political party. Zimbabweans want real change. They want to write their own Constitution. They want hope, dignity, democracy, security and prosperity. 

Together to the end, marching to a new Zimbabwe