AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Catholic Bishops call for new Constitution “inspired by the people”

Harare (Agenzia Fides) - In a Pastoral Letter to be read in churches on Palm Sunday the Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe call for a new Constitution “inspired by the people” to help the country overcome the present political, economic and social crisis. The new Constitution must allow free and transparent elections the Bishops say in the Letter underlining that besides being a crisis of “government and leadership, the crisis is also spiritual and moral”.
Already last October the main Christian confessions in Zimbabwe issued a statement in which they underlined the need for a new Constitution. The statement titled “The Zimbabwe we want” said: “The current Lancaster House Constitution was not inspired by the collective consent or consensus of the people of Zimbabwe. Its primary object was to facilitate a transfer of political power from the settler minority to the indigenous majority, while preserving the former’s rights and privileges. The absence of a homegrown constitution remains a source of great dissatisfaction to some segments of our society”.
In this new Pastoral Letter the Bishops write “The more the people suffer the harsher the oppression of the government with arrests, detentions, interdictions, violence and torture”.
Yesterday 28 March Morgan Tsvangirai the leader of the Movement Democratic Change main Opposition party was arrested for the second time and later released.
The Zimbabwe crisis is the focus of a Summit of SADC South African Development Community heads of state which concludes today in Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania. Reportedly the heads of state intend to try to convince their Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe, to meet Opposition leaders. Hitherto other African countries were little inclined to openly condemn violation of human rights on the part of the Zimbabwe government, unlike the Western countries, particularly members of the Commonwealth. Australia has announced a “vigorous” campaign to support the citizens of Zimbabwe in the fight against President Mugabe, and a special fund to alleviate the consequences of the economic crisis in Zimbabwe. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 29/3/2007 righe 34 parole 400)