It seems apparent that the three political parties have allowed themselves to interfere in the full participation of citizens despite the fact that the constitution which comes out of the process should be reflective of the views of the people in their totallity, not just those who belong to political society. Citizen attendance and participation: COPAC, as a public institution, should remain accountable to the people of Zimbabwe yet during the past six months the committee operated largely in secrecy. Of particular concern was the failure to furnish Zimbabweans with schedules of meetings well ahead of time, to allow for planning. The schedules, which originally appeared in the public media, are now appearing at district level resulting in limited access by citizens. This has ultimately affected the level of attendance in mostly rural communities with COPAC indicating that as at 22 July, 1212 meetings had been held with a total attendance of 212 155 people. On average, 175 people have attended each meeting. However attendance does not translate to meaningful participation. In most areas in Mashonaland Provinces, people attend the consultation meetings but only a handful of them participate meaningfully. On 28 June, 1200 people attended a meeting held at Sikosana Primary School in Makonde district Mashonaland West Province, but only five people are reported to have contributed. Some participants have also said that the talking points which are used to gather views by COPAC are too technical and as such affect the levels of participation. Observation of outreach meetings revealed that some COPAC officials are unable to fully explain ‘Systems of Government’ and ‘Transitional Mechanisms’ resulting in participants simply saying that the areas should be kept as they are. Despite the fact that there are millions of Zimbabweans resident abroad, COPAC has not yet engaged this critical group. It is the fundamental right of each and every Zimbabwe to participate in the constitution making process regardless of their geographic location. COPAC pointed out that a website is under construction, which will service Zimbabweans living abroad. However, this site remains under construction more than one month after the outreach phase began. Fears are rife that the site might not be launched owing to ZANU PF’s insistence on blocking participation of Zimbabweans in the diaspora. Compliance to publicised schedule: Although COPAC publicised meeting points and dates there has been numerous cases of non-adherence to publicised schedules. For example in the Sunday Mail of 28 June, COPAC indicated that public consultations were going to be conducted in Guruve District, Mashonaland Central but later decided to cover Shamva district without any prior notifications. Conduct of COPAC outreach teams: Although the talking points have been revised, participants complained that the translations are too technical and team leaders are failing to interpret them which results in people repeating the same things or saying they want what is in the old constitution. Some of the monitors reported that outreach teams were not giving people enough time to articulate their issues: for example, at a meeting held at Chinhamora Hall on 3 July the outreach teams were taking five people per question. At an outreach meeting held on 24 June at Mankunzani Business CIVIL SOCIETY MONITORING MECHANISM (CISOMM) SIX MONTH SHADOW REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE INCLUSIVE OF ZIMBABWE 30