LOVEMORE MOYO . . . all hell broke loose when the Parliament Speaker took to the podium

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s constitutional conference was abandoned on Monday after delegates from rival political parties became rowdy and started singing songs mocking one another and throwing objects at each other before police drove them out of the conference hall.

Conspicuous by their absence when the chaos erupted were President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara.

The three principals of Zimbabwe’s unity government were expected to be in the conference by 9am, but three hours later when chaos broke out at the conference venue, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara were nowhere to be seen.

No official explanation was given for their absence, except that the official opening of the two-day conference had been delayed until further notice.

Trouble began when militant youths from Mugabe’s ZANU PF party demanded that delegates sing the national anthem before the conference could begin official business.

When clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma, who was addressing the gathering, ignored their plea, the ZANU PF delegates went ahead to sing the national anthem drowning Zvoma’s voice.

After the anthem, Parliament Speaker Lovemore Moyo from Tsvangirai’s MDC party took to the podium to present his opening address and that is when all hell broke loose.

The ZANU PF youths linked to the party’s youth leaders, Saviour Kasukuwere and Patrick Zhuwawo, broke into rowdy singing, dancing and stamping feet on the floor as they went over to the high table. 

The Speaker had to abandon his speeech and leave the podium. 

“Zimbabwe ndeyeropa baba, Zimbabwe ndeyeropa remadzibaba (Zimbabwe was liberated through the blood of the ancestors),” chanted the ZANU PF militants.

Not even a single police officer was in the conference to maintain order and this prompted delegates to walk out, as some of the hooligans had turned violent pelting them with plastic water bottles. Eventually police came in to drive out some delegates who had remained in the conference hall.

There was no official position on the fate of the conference, but indications were that it had suffered a stillbirth.

Sources said Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara were attending an emergency meeting at State House on the conference following the disruption.

The sources in both ZANU PF and the two MDC formations said ZANU PF wanted the new constitution to be based on the Kariba Draft constitution the three parties agreed to in September 2007.

The controversial Kariba Draft that was secretly authored by ZANU PF and the MDC parties in 2007.

Critics say the Draft leaves untouched the wide-sweeping powers that Mugabe continues to enjoy even after formation of the unity government.

Mugabe has since told his party that an attempt to deviate from the Kariba Draft by the 25-member parliamentary select committee driving the constitution-making process should be resisted.

He even suggested that a new constitution without the Kariba Draft constitution should be voted against by ZANU PF legislators in Parliament when it comes for passing after the referendum.

A new constitution can only become law if two thirds of Parliament votes in the affirmative. Without ZANU PF legislators, the MDC formations do not constitute the mandatory two thirds. – ZimOnline