Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0423/04233.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 30KB | 484 lines

$Unique_ID{COW04233}
$Pretitle{371}
$Title{Zimbabwe
Chapter 4A.   Government and Politics}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Jean R. Tartter}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
african
white
constitution
areas
local
councils
service
independence
civil}
$Date{1982}
$Log{Harare's Milton Buildings*0423301.scf
}
Country:     Zimbabwe
Book:        Zimbabwe, A Country Study
Author:      Jean R. Tartter
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 4A.   Government and Politics

[See Harare's Milton Buildings: House the Prime Minister's Office and the seat
of Zimbabwe's central government]

     At independence on April 18, 1980, Zimbabwe undertook to govern itself
according to a system of parliamentary democracy bequeathed by Britain, its
former colonial steward. Zimbabwean sovereignty was embodied in the
British-sponsored Constitution, which had been accepted by all factions that
had contended for authority during the preceding fourteen years. The
Constitution ensured a government by the country's African majority. In
national elections held as a prologue to independence, the Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front, the most radical of the African nationalist
groups during the long fight against white minority rule, came to power under
new leadership of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

     The new prime minister's conciliatory statements and actions made plain
that his government did not intend to act hastily in reordering the economy
and the society. The reforms he introduced were aimed first at expunging the
racially segregated administration of the country formerly known as Rhodesia.
White domination of the higher civil service was ended, municipal government
was merged into a single structure, and Africans were trained to take up
judicial office in a more integrated legal system. In spite of his generous
use of socialist rhetoric, Mugabe's economic strategy intruded little on the
private sector, which he recognized must be allowed to prosper if jobs were to
be created and overseas investors encouraged. Broader opportunities for
Africans, narrowing of income disparities, and land resettlement were high on
the new government's agenda, but its initial approach was cautious,
emphasizing shifts in the tax burden, boosts in education, and higher minimum
wages.

     Mugabe's government has had to contend with underlying regional and
ethnic divisions in the African population and dissatisfaction among radicals
of Mugabe's own party over the pace of change. The political influence of the
elite white minority has waned, but its power has persisted in other forms.
The opposition forces-Joshua Nkomo's Patriotic Front-Zimbabwe African People's
Union and the white Republican Front Party-have experienced internal stress,
reinforcing the prime minister's commanding position. He was nevertheless
provoked by actions of his adversaries that he regarded as negative and
disruptive when the republic's tasks demanded unity of purpose. Mugabe has
sought to maintain a broadly based government by continuing to include
representatives of Nkomo's party and white independents, but he has strongly
endorsed a one-party system as a solution to mutual distrust and ethnic and
ideological conflict.

     The issues at stake within Zimbabwe have received wide international
recognition, attested to by the West's commitment from the outset to the
republic's development along democratic, multiracial lines. Despite the
communist support that was an instrumental factor in the Patriotic Front's
guerrilla war against Ian Smith's Rhodesia, relations with the Soviet Union,
Eastern Europe, and China have been distinctly of secondary importance.

     Zimbabwe's outlook has been consonant with its nonaligned status and its
membership in African groupings. Its central location and relative economic
weight have endowed the country with a prominent role in the efforts of the
states of the southern tier to reduce their dependence on South Africa. At the
same time, however, the republic's most challenging foreign relations problem
was how to employ its influence against the area's remaining stronghold of
white minority rule while dealing with the reality of an economy closely
intertwined with that of its powerful southern neighbor.

Constitutional Framework

     Between 1923, when Southern Rhodesia attained status as a self-governing
crown colony, and 1980, when Zimbabwe became a sovereign republic, political
activity has been regulated by six successive constitutions. The one
promulgated in 1923 retained residual powers for Britain over relations
between the white Rhodesian government and the colony's African majority (see
The Colonial Period, ch. 1). Under the 1961 constitution Britain relinquished
its earlier rights of intervention, which were intended to safeguard the
interests of the African population, and extended greater autonomy to the
Rhodesian authorities (see The 1961 Constitution, ch. 1). The constitutions of
1965 and 1969, which stemmed from Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of
independence (UDI), reinforced the ruling white minority's primary aim:
permanent and total control over the machinery of government in order to avoid
or defeat any serious challenge from the nonwhite majority (see Unilateral
Declaration of Independence; The Republican Constitution, ch. 1).

     The 1979 constitution, under which Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the
breakaway colony's first African prime minister and a majority of African
members took their places in the cabinet and parliament, was in force only a
few months. Coupled with laws abolishing most forms of racial discrimination,
it represented an effort by the white political leadership to come to terms
with the moderate African forces. It failed, however, to end the civil war
with the guerrilla insurgents of the Patriotic Front because the document was
widely perceived as having been designed to perpetuate de facto white control
for a lengthy period, if not indefinitely (see Internal Settlement, ch. 1).

     The Constitution of 1980, which established the framework for Zimbabwean
independence, sounded the death knell for white political power and ushered in
a new era of self-determination for the African majority. Launched at a
British-sponsored conference of all contending parties, which convened at
Lancaster House in London in September 1979, the Constitution was similar in
many respects to the preceding internal settlement constitution, retaining
virtually the same structure of government and provisions designed to protect
the basic rights of all citizens. Both constitutions prescribed dual voter
rolls for the electoral process: a common roll for Africans and a separate
roll for white, Coloured, and Asian voters. The locus of political power was,
however, shifted to the African majority by revoking the veto power of the
white minority and the independence of the white-dominated civil service (see
Parliament, this ch.).

     In addition to prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of "race, tribe,
place of origin, color, or creed," the Declaration of Rights in the
Constitution embodies detailed safeguards against the compulsory sale of
property except underutilized agricultural land. Pension benefits and the
right to remit compensation abroad are similarly protected. These provisions
have been viewed as essential features of the 1979 Lancaster House agreement,
affording whites an option of emigration without undue hardship should they
find life under African rule intolerable. Because of the potential drain on
the Zimbabwean economy, Britain gave assurances of aid in fulfilling these
promises to the white community.

     Amendments to the Constitution generally require the support of seventy
members of the parliament's House of Assembly and two-thirds of its Senate.
Several sections of the document are nevertheless entrenched (exempt from
amendment except by unanimous approval in the assembly). The Declaration of
Rights is entrenched for a ten-year period,