15 September 2008
Harare — AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ZIMBABWE AFRICAN NATIONAL UNION-PATRIOTIC FRONT (ZANU-PF) AND THE TWO MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE (MDC) FORMATIONS, ON RESOLVING THE CHALLENGES FACING ZIMBABWE
PREAMBLE
We, the Parties to this Agreement;
CONCERNED about the recent challenges that we have faced as a country and the multiple threats to the well-being of our people and, therefore, determined to resolve these permanently.
CONSIDERING our shared determination to uphold, defend and sustain Zimbabwe's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity, as a respected member of the international community, a nation where all citizens respect and, therefore, enjoy equal protection of the law and have equal opportunity to compete and prosper in all spheres of life.
ACKNOWLEDGING the sacrifices made by thousands of Zimbabwe's gallant sons and daughters in the fight against colonialism and racial discrimination and determined to accept, cherish and recognise the significance of the Liberation Struggle as the foundation of our sovereign independence, freedoms and human rights.
DEDICATING ourselves to putting an end to the polarisation, divisions, conflict and intolerance that has characterised Zimbabwean politics and society in recent times.
COMMITTING ourselves to putting our people and our country first by arresting the fall in living standards and reversing the decline of our economy.
EMPHASISING our shared commitment to re-orient our attitudes towards respect for the Constitution and all national laws, the rule of law, observance of Zimbabwe's national institutions, symbols and national events.
RESPECTING the rights of all Zimbabweans regardless of political affiliation to benefit from and participate in all national programmes and events freely without let or hindrance.
RECOGNISING, accepting and acknowledging that the values of justice, fairness, openness, tolerance, equality, non-discrimination and respect of all persons without regard to race, class, gender, ethnicity, language, religion, political opinion, place of origin or birth are the bedrock of our democracy and good governance.
DETERMINED to build a society free of violence, fear, intimidation, hatred, patronage, corruption and founded on justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and equality.
RECOGNISING and accepting that the Land Question has been at the core of the contestation in Zimbabwe and acknowledging the centrality of issues relating to the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy and governance.
COMMITTED to act in a manner that demonstrates loyalty to Zimbabwe, patriotism and commitment to Zimbabwe's national purpose, core values, interests and aspirations.
DETERMINED to act in a manner that demonstrates respect for the democratic values of justice, fairness, openness, tolerance, equality, respect of all persons and human rights.
SUBMITTING ourselves to the mandate of the Extraordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held in Dar-es-Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, on 29th March 2007 and endorsed in Lusaka on 12th April 2008 and in the AU Summit held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 30th June to 1 July 2008.
RECOGNISING the centrality and importance of African institutions in dealing with African problems, we agreed to seek solutions to our differences, challenges and problems through dialogue.
ACKNOWLEDGING that pursuant to the Dar-es-Salaam SADC resolution, the Parties negotiated and agreed on a draft Constitution, initialed by the Parties on 30 September 2007, and further agreed and co-sponsored the enactment of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 18 Act, amendments to the Electoral Act, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act, Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Broadcasting Services Act.
APPRECIATING the historical obligation and need to reach a solution that will allow us to put Zimbabwe first and give the people a genuine chance of rebuilding and reconstructing their livelihoods.
PURSUANT to the common desire of working together, the Parties agreed to and executed a Memorandum of Understanding on 21 July 2008, attached hereto as Annexure "A".
NOW THEREFORE AGREE AS FOLLOWS :
ARTICLE I
DEFINITIONS
1. Definitions
The "Agreement" shall mean this written Agreement signed by the representatives of ZANU-PF and the MDC, in its two formations ("the Parties") in fulfillment of the material mandate handed down by the SADC Extraordinary Summit on 29th March 2007 and endorsed by SADC in Lusaka, Zambia and adopted by the African Union Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
The "Parties" shall mean ZANU-PF, the two MDC formations led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara respectively.
The "Government" or "New Government" means the new Government to be set up in terms of this Agreement.
ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT
2. Declaration of Commitment
The Parties hereby declare and agree to work together to create a genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable and nationally acceptable solution to the Zimbabwe situation and in particular to implement the following agreement with the aims of resolving once and for all the current political and economic situations and charting a new political direction for the country.
ARTICLE III
RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
3. Economic recovery
3.1 The Parties agree:
(a) to give priority to the restoration of economic stability and growth in Zimbabwe. The Government will lead the process of developing and implementing an economic recovery strategy and plan. To that end, the parties are committed to working together on a full and comprehensive economic programme to resuscitate Zimbabwe's economy, which will urgently address the issues of production, food security, poverty and unemployment and the challenges of high inflation, interest rates and the exchange rate.
(b) to create conditions that would ensure that the 2008/2009 agricultural season is productive.
(c) to establish a National Economic Council, composed of representatives of the Parties and of the following sectors:
(i) Manufacturing
(ii) Agriculture
(iii) Mining
(iv) Tourism
(v) Commerce
(vi) Financial
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i have just printed the full 24 page doc. Just print.
dont have printer so have a problem
If you click on "print" to the right of the headline above, the document will first show you a print view. It displays fully in this view. ;-)
I LIKE THE AFRICANS TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS WITHOUT OUTSIDE INTERVENTION.I HOPE THAT OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES FACED WITH INTERNAL COMFLICTS SHOULD EMULATE THE EXAMPLE OF ZIMBABWE.I CALL UPON CHAD ,AND DARFUR TO COPY THE EXAMPLE OF ZIMBABWE,AND END THE CRISIS THAT HAS COST MANY LIVES IN AFRICA.
If creating PM positions across Africa is the new form of governments cropping up after ruling party steals elections, then we are only creating another form of sickness in Africa. It is so sad to describe this as the African solution.
Mr Think Twice.
On face value this document seems good but after careful scrutiny you realise that the MDC has been head.one example is .Exucutive power is vested equally in the President, The Prime Minister and The Cabinet. Mugabe chairs the Cabinet and Tsvangirai the Council of Ministers. Yet the PM and his CoM report to cabinet. Cabinet implements policies not the CoM which merely does the progress reports. This document also states that the land issue has been the core of the contestaion in Zimbabwe yet the MDC was founded as a reaction to the corruption that riddled the Zanu PF gvt..I… [Read Full Text]
There is noone better placed to know in depth how the MDC was founded than Tsvangirai himself who did not only fully participated in this document, but is quite happy about the outcome. Lets stop these useless, self-centered "depth" analysis and give the group our support.
To the editors: the text of the article stops at page 9 out of 15 listed pages. Please fix the links for the last six pages, since all six links redirect to page 1 for some strange reason. Thanks.