OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Tuesday 4.30pm.
ZIMBABWEAN voters have rejected a new constitution which critics said would strengthen President Robert Mugabe’s hold on power, official results showed on Tuesday.
A total of 697754 people — 54.6% — voted against the constitution, while 578210 voted in favour, the election directorate announced.
The result is seen as a slap in the face for Mugabe, who had campaigned hard for a “yes” vote.
The draft constitution would have entrenched Mugabe’s authority and allowed the government to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks without paying compensation.
While the referendum was ostensibly over the constitution, it has been widely seen as an opinion poll on the government’s performance ahead of parliamentary elections in April. “It’s a resounding vote of no confidence not only in the constitution but in the makers of it,” said Brian Kagoro, a spokesman for the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), which spearheaded opposition to the draft.
The NCA, which groups civil society organisations, said the government-appointed commission which drew up the constitution ignored the wishes of the majority of people who made it clear in a nationwide survey that they wanted Mugabe’s autocratic powers curbed.
Another controversial aspect of the draft was that it gave the government power to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks without paying compensation.
The British Foreign Office minister with responsibility for Africa, Peter Hain, said in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday that Zimbabwe is on the brink of an abyss. He also criticised the way the ballot was held.
Bovernment media highlighted an unusually high turn-out of whites in the referendum, but, as they make up less than one percent of voters, the results so far show that Mugabe has been rebuffed by vast numbers of blacks. –AFP
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