20101024
Zimbabwe Standard

Harare — THE Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) on the writing of the new constitution has suspended two senior officials for allegedly mishandling data collected during consultation meetings.

Now it is feared the data, which was collected during the Copac outreach programme, could have been tampered with thus compromising the credibility of the whole process.

Authoritative sources said national coordinator Peter Kunjeku and data collation manager Skoliwe Fundira were suspended last week following the moving of data from Copac offices to the National Archives, a move that was not sanctioned by Copac co-chairpersons as stipulated by the rules.

It could not be established whose interest the two were serving. However, there has been intense tussling between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations over the control of the process.

"A review meeting on Thursday expressed concern in the two's failure to adhere to data security standards outlined by the three political parties spearheading the process," said one source.

"They stored data from four provinces in an unsecured room at Copac offices before moving it to National Archives in unsealed boxes without the authority of the three co-chairpersons or anyone from the select committee."

The stakeholders committee, made up of members from Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, reportedly tried to secure the data that had been moved to the National Archives on Thursday afternoon but the two officials beat them to it, quickly moving the data back to Copac offices before their arrival.

"It emerged that the data had been moved to the National Archives on the same day and thus was still outside, although Kunjeku and Fundira had insisted that the data could only be released from the National Archives by written authority signed by the three co-chairs," another source said.

"The National Archives had not yet officially received the data."

The sources said Copac had earlier on ruled out storage of data at the National Archives and other government departments due to prevailing perception that the Zanu PF ideology is still ruling at most of these institutions and thus data stored in them could be exposed to manipulation.

The three parties have agreed to store data in some secured rooms at Copac offices and some independent secure institutions such as banks.

The sources also said that there were some provinces which had refused to release their outreach data citing dissatisfaction with storage security.

"It was agreed that Kunjeku and Fundira's actions put the credibility of the outreach data at risk," the sources said.

Kunjeku yesterday refused to comment on his suspension and referred all questions to Copac.

The committee's co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora (pictured) confirmed Copac had suspended some of its employees over the issue.

"I can confirm that we have taken disciplinary action against some employees pending investigations into these serious matters although I will not say who they are," he said. "This does not mean that they are guilty.

"We will follow due process; maybe they have justifiable reasons for their actions."

Mwonzora said the data which had been moved is now stored at a secure place and under 24 hours armed guard.

"Just a few files had been moved to National Archives and we quickly moved in to stop any further movements when we heard about that," Mwonzora said. "We are however satisfied that the files were not tampered with."

He denied allegations that some provinces were refusing with data saying Copac was satisfied with the storage of all other information gathered during the outreach phase.

Efforts to get a comment from Copac co-chairperson Paul Mangwana were fruitless as his mobile phone went unaswered.

The constitution-making process is already running behind schedule due to a myriad of problems including bickering between Mugabe's Zanu PF party and the MDC over the form the reforms should take.

The process had at one time stopped in Harare and Manicaland provinces because of violence and intimidation.

The proposed new constitution is part of reforms agreed by President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara to democratise Zimbabwe's politics.

The coalition government is expected to call fresh elections once a new constitution is in place although there is no legal requirement for it to do so, while Tsvangirai and Mugabe have differed on when a new vote can be held.

Mugabe has insisted new polls should be held most probably next year whether or not there is a new constitution while Tsvangirai has said elections must be preceded by a new and democratic constitution.