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Articles of faith: Assessing Zimbabwe's GPA as a mechanism for change - a legal perspective
Derek Matyszak and Tony Releer, Research and Advocacy Unit Zimbabwe
April 08, 2011

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Introduction

Zimbabwe's current Inclusive Government, more commonly referred to as a Government of National Unity (GNU), was established pursuant to an Interparty Political Agreement, itself more commonly referred to as the Global Political Agreement (GPA). This Agreement was signed by the "Principals" of the three main extant political parties: the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations.

Rather than simply containing clauses which are subject to legal interpretation and enforcement, the larger part of the agreement comprises rhetoric and ideological bombast designed to facilitate political posturing and little else. The ideological bombast is symptomatic of the lack of any real consensus between the parties, and the GPA thus reflected a continuation of this discord rather than its resolution.

In fact, only Article XX of the GPA has, and was intended to have, any real legal traction. The Articles of the GPA may be regarded as falling into one of three categories - Articles which are mere bombast, Articles which are of political relevance only, and Articles which have legal traction. Even those Articles intended to have legal traction are problematic. An agreement can only bind those who are party to it. Accordingly, the GPA can only bind the signatory political parties in their relationship with each other as political parties, and no one else. Yet the three political parties purported to oblige the both Government of Zimbabwe and its President, Robert Mugabe, to undertake certain acts. The Government of Zimbabwe is not party to the Agreement. Mugabe signed the agreement qua leader of ZANU PF and not as President of the country. Even if he had signed in the latter capacity, it is not possible for the President to limit his powers provided for in the Constitution by contract. The Articles which purported to do so only became legally enforceable once incorporated in the Constitution itself.

The Articles

a) Bombast.

The Agreement commences with a Preamble, Definition Section and "Declaration of Commitment" all of which are lofty statements of little practical importance. The same may be said of several other Articles. In Article III, the parties agree to give priority to "the restoration of economic stability and growth", but the agreement is largely meaningless without consensus as to the cause of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and the manner in which stability and growth might be restored. Article IV concerned "sanctions and measures" imposed by western powers who thus alone have the power to remove them and who have repeatedly stated the conditions necessary to this end - conditions which would be met if democratic reforms mentioned in the GPA were implemented. The phrasing of the Article does not explicitly link sanctions with these conditions and simply facilitates political posturing by ZANU PF around this issue. Article VIII addresses the need to "observe Zimbabwe's national institutions, symbols, national programmes and events". Given ZANU PF's control over these events and its conflation of patriotism with support for ZANU PF, the Article seeks to require the MDC to collude with such conflation and is mere political cant. The following Article, Article IX rejects foreign interference in Zimbabwe designed to facilitate regime change and has clearly been inserted solely to support ZANU PF's contention that the west is conspiring to overthrown Mugabe's government. It is political posturing and no more. By way of Article XI, the parties agree to abide by the rule of law in Zimbabwe, something already required in terms of Zimbabwe's legislative structure, and the GPA does not add to or strengthen this existing obligation. Similarly, Article XIV enjoins the Traditional Leaders to carry out their duties impartially - something already required by the Traditional Leaders Act.

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