The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Jongwe Masuka, has given notices of motion to Parliament that he intends to move six water agreements for approval.
Section 327 (2) (a) of the Constitution provides that; "An international treaty which has been concluded or executed by the President or under the President's authority does not bind Zimbabwe until it has been approved by Parliament." The motions must be approved by both houses.
What are these motions?
The first two motions are for the Buzi and Save watercourse agreements which were signed by Mozambique and Zimbabwe on July 29, 2019, and May 17, 2023, respectively.
The objective of these watercourse agreements is to promote a coordinated cooperation on the management, development, protection and sustainable utilisation of the water resources of the two watercourses shared by the two countries.
The two agreements cover the general principles of cooperation; the principle of equitable and reasonable utilisation, the obligation not to cause significant harm and duty to cooperate.
These principles are in line with the global water conventions and the 2000 SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses. The other elements of the agreements are protection and preservation of the environment, gender mainstreaming, water allocation, notification procedures, dispute resolution mechanisms, water quality and prevention of pollution, exchange of data and information, floods, drought and climate change mitigation strategies.
Zimbabwe and Mozambique exclusively share the Buzi, Pungwe and Save watercourses. The Pungwe watercourse agreement was ratified by Parliament in 2019.
The third motion is for the Agreement on the Establishment of the Buzi, Pungwe and Save Watercourses Commission which was signed on May 17, 2023, at a ceremony that was witnessed by the two Heads of State of the two Parties.
The objective of this agreement is to create a tri-basin institution to coordinate the management of resources of the three watercourses.
The global water conventions and regional instruments like the Sadc Revised Protocol on shared watercourses directs riparian States to form joint mechanisms for the management of shared watercourses.
The agreement establishes the BUPUSA Watercourse Commission (BUPUSACOM), organs; the Council of Ministers, the Technical Committee and the Secretariat and functions and responsibility thereof.
The Council of Ministers is the highest decision making body of the commission. Article 5 of the SADC Revised Protocol provides that the Ministers responsible for water affairs must oversee and monitor implementation of the Protocol and assist in resolving potential conflict on shared watercourses. It is in this spirit that ministers are at the apex of the Commis-annual-sion.
The agreement further ring fences the Executive Secretary post in that such a person must be a citizen of the contracting parties. Furthermore, the Executive Secretary must not come from the hosting party.
This scenario creates a balance in that at any given point one party hosts while the other party provides the Executive Secretary.
The BUPUSACOM is an intergovernmental organisation whose budget shall be drawn from annual contributions from the parties, donations, grants and loans from financial institutions. The agreement has also dispute resolution mechanism.
This is not the first time Zimbabwe is establishing an institution with her riparian. Zimbabwe is Party to the Limpopo Watercourse Commission, Zambezi Watercourse Commission and the Zambezi River Authority.
The BUPSACOM Hosting agreement will be the fourth agreement to be tabled.
This agreement spells out the legal terms and conditions that shall apply to the hosting arrangements of the BUPSACOM Secretariat.
The hosting arrangement is on a rotational basis for a period of 10 years apiece. However, the first party to host shall have 15 years. The hosting party has the responsibility of providing offices to the secretariat.
The agreement also accords the privileges and immunities, exemptions and facilities enjoyed by the Secretariat and exempts the Commission from paying taxes permissible under the laws of the hosting Party.
The fifth motion is for the accession to United Nations global water conventions namely the 1992 Water Convention and 1997 Watercourses Convention.
These are global framework conventions that provide the basic elements of the general architecture for managing international watercourses.
Zimbabwe is not a signatory to these conventions. The process of becoming a party to these conventions is called accession.
The last motion is on the Beitbridge- Musina Water Supply Agreement whose objective is to facilitate the transfer of a maximum of 15 million cubic meters treated water from Beitbridge Treatment Works to Musina annually at a fee.
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The agreement which was signed on March 14, 2024 shall be in force for 20 years and may be reviewed thereafter should parties so wish.
All these instruments are crucial for fostering political will to cooperate and provides a framework for bringing together development interventions and preventative diplomacy.
A State that becomes a Party to treaties send a positive political signal to other countries, international organisations, financial institutions and other actors its willingness to cooperate on the basis of the norms and standards of the treaties.
By becoming a party to global conventions in particular, a country joins the international legal and institutional framework thereby increasing certainty and predictability in relations between and among states and thus helps prevent potential conflicts, contributing to the maintenance of international and regional peace and security.
The various treaties are powerful tools to promote and achieve the objectives of vision 2030 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Norest Ndawana is an environmental lawyer and writes in his official capacity as the National Focal Point to the Water Convention.
