Carnegie
Corporation
of New York
Winter 2007
“Progressive organizations in civil society such as the Women’s Action Group, also a Corporation grantee, were invited to serve on the Commission to achieve some level of balance between government sympathizers and everyone else,” notes program officer Andrea Johnson. “Although it’s true that many of these groups declined because they did not believe the Commission as a whole would listen to them, we were encouraged by the effort to create an inclusive process,” she adds. At the same time, the Corporation’s president, Vartan Gregorian, while skeptical that any amount of money could oust a dictator of Mugabe’s stripe, felt strong pressure to stand beside other foundations in the spirit of partnership that was one of the Corporation’s highest values.1 And so he deferred to the program staff’s recommendation and in October 1999 the grant was approved as a one-time special opportunity.
The sum of $200,000 was provided to the Constitutional Commission of Zimbabwe for public education and outreach activities from October 1 to November 30, 1999. At the end of that time the draft constitution would be presented to President Mugabe, who would place it before a national referendum. According to the final grant report, approximately 25 percent of the funding was used for conferences and meetings while the rest went mainly toward an aggressive media campaign conducted in English, Shona, Ndebele and other Zimbabwean languages. “It was hoped the outcome would be a fair reflection of the values, interests and aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe,” Kamba wrote. But the stakes were too high for the Mugabe regime to let the true voice of the people be heard.
In the final analysis, the threats to this attempt at constitutional reform proved overwhelming. The 400 commissioners, all appointed by Mugabe, included every member of Parliament, a vast majority of whom were in the ruling party. This fact opened the process to accusations of collusion and cast doubts on the draft constitution in the eyes of the Zimbabwean people. Ultimately, even a leader of Walter Kamba’s stature could play only a minor part. Civic leaders on the Constitutional Commission were far outnumbered by Mugabe pawns, and were therefore powerless to carry out the people’s wishes. During the final drafting stages, 24 commissioners disassociated themselves from the process due to their belief that the final document did not represent the majority view, particularly with regard to two issues: 1) the powers of the president and 2) land reform.
Opposition to the existing constitution, a document hastily negotiated in 1980 and amended through the years in the ruling party’s favor, was due largely to the focusing of power in the presidency and lack of presidential term limits. In fact, the widespread desire to correct these problems was the most important issue driving the entire movement for constitutional reform, as articulated by a vast majority of participants in the national outreach process. A new constitution that did not rein in the presidency was seen as useless. Land reform, meanwhile, had always been the most politically and emotionally charged problem in Zimbabwe and, given generalized suspicion of the government’s motives, it became an irreconcilable issue.
The unprecedented period of public debate, instead of building faith in the constitution, convinced a majority of voters that Mugabe contrived the entire process for his own benefit. In February 2000, when the day came for the referendum, the people of Zimbabwe voted “No!”
1 The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa , a joint effort of Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Ford, MacArthur, Rockefeller, William and Flora Hewlett and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundations supports efforts to build the capacity of universities and the field of higher education in Africa. Since 2000, more than $150 million in support has gone to universities in six African countries. In September 2005, $200 million more was pledged over the next five years.