Zimbabwe’s Constitution Committee Takes to Social Sites, Urges Voters to Support Draft Charter
Jonga Kandemiiri
WASHINGTON —
In a bid to counter organizations campaigning against the draft constitution ahead of next week’s referendum on the charter, Zimbabwe’s coalition government has set up a 30-member strong team to hit social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, urging voters to adopt the charter.
The team took the decision to focus on social media because political parties and organizations opposing the draft are using social sites to campaign against the document.
MDC spokesman Nhlanhla Dube, whose party pulled out of another parliamentary select committee or COPAC public awareness campaign, says this time his party have contributed 10 members to the team.
He says it is essential that the committee uses all forms of communication available to Zimbabweans to unpack the draft constitution ahead of the March 16th national referendum.
Organizations like the National Constitutional Assembly and other smaller political parties are campaigning against the draft charter.
The NCA, which opposed the constitution-process from the beginning saying it was not people-driven, charges the government did not give ordinary people enough time to unpack the draft constitution ahead of next week’s vote.
They have filed an urgent application in the Supreme Court appealing a High Court decision saying President Robert Mugabe cannot be challenged for proclaiming the date of the constitution and giving people a month to study the document before the vote.
Meanwhile, FreeZim Congress acting spokesman and youth chairman James Katso says his party will officially launch its “Vote No” campaign in Harare Thursday.
