Constitutional resources at Sokwanele

at Sokwanele website, they announce:

Sokwanele is pleased to announce that we have launched a constitution resource on our website. We hope that this online information system will provide users in Zimbabwe and in the diaspora with an simple way to familiarise themselves with the details of the current constitution, and with forthcoming drafts towards a proposed future constitution.

Zimbabwe's new constitution, when it is finally enacted into law, will shape all of our futures, define our fundamental human rights, provide limits on political powers, outline rules shaping the police, defence forces, prisons and public services ... and more. The constitution-making process encompasses all Zimbabweans. We encourage all Zimbabweans, no matter where they are in the world, to take part in the critical task of interrogating and thinking about the laws that will define all of our futures and establish the rights of Zimbabweans everywhere.

Zimbabweans will be asked to vote on a new draft constitution when it is finally ready. The public outreach programme, intended to gather the views of the people, is scheduled to start early in the new year. The outreach timeframe below comes via a recent Veritas mailing:

• 4-5 January 2010: MPs and Senators will be trained on their own on Tuesday 5th January [arrival and registration on Monday 4th]
• 6-10 January 2010: The remainder of the outreach personnel will be trained in a four-day workshop running from 7th to 10th January [arrival and registration on Wednesday 6th].
• 11 January 2010: Outreach teams will then be deployed to the provinces where they will meet officials and representatives of civic society at provincial level to explain their programme before starting work the next day.
• 12 January 2010: Consultation with the people will start on Tuesday 12th January.
• 18 March 2010: End of outreach. [The consultations are expected to last 65 days but this time will be extended if necessary].

We all have a right to add our voices to this process, and we have a right to reject any document that fails to live up to our expectations. So it is important that Zimbabweans are informed about what the documents and drafts say, and that we all think carefully about the rights and standards we want enshrined in our future constitutional law....