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Resolutions of the MDC national council
Movement for Democratic Change
May 16, 2010

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On the 16th of May 2010, the National Council of the party met in Harare and held an intense meeting in respect of which the following reports were received;

a. The report of the Commission of Inquiry on the disturbances at Harvest House.
b. A report and recommendations from the National Standing Committee of the 14th of May 2010.
c. A report by the Secretary General on the state of the party, the state of the State and the strategic position of the party.
d. A report by the Organizing Department presented by the Organizing Secretary Hon. Eng. Elias Mudzuri.

In addition to the above reports discussions were held on the following matters;

a. The issue of indigenization in Zimbabwe,
b. The issue of diamonds and the mining of the same in Chiadzwa,
c. The state of the economy and in particular the issue of the conditions of service for the civil servants, and
d. The issue of human rights and the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Following extensive discussions, the following resolutions were made;
Violence and disturbances at Harvest House

1. That the party has a zero tolerance towards violence and condemns the events of the 12th and 14th of April 2010.

1.2 That the following youths who were at the epicentre of the violence are forthwith expelled from the Party; Rhino Mashaya, Shakespear Mukoyi, Stephen Jahwi, Todini Todini and Francis Machimbidzofa.

1.3 That the above youths shall not participate in any activities of the Party and that no member of the Party shall, within the context of Party activities, associate or entertain the above.

1.4 That the Party condemns violence and offer training on non-violent and non-confrontational programmes.

1.5 Initiate a process of dealing with trauma for victims of violence and Party members.

1.6 The Party must adopt a progressive and robust approach on the cases of employment and welfare.

1.7 Implement a non-violent conflict management and team building programmes throughout the structures.

1.8 Develop, adopt and implement a sustainable cadreship programmes that ensure that the party's core values of democracy, human rights, including women's rights and solidarity are inculcated in all members.

Dialogue

2. That, the parties and the Principals of the parties must take measures to implement and execute the agreed positions as reflected in the Negotiators report dated the 3rd of April 2010 and more importantly, must enforce and uphold the Implementation Matrix as prepared by the Negotiators.

2.2 That on the outstanding issues, which include the following matters;

i. The swearing-in of Roy Bennett,
ii. The issue of the RBZ Governor and Attorney General,
iii. Provincial Governors,
iv. National heroes,
v. Review and reallocation of ministerial mandates,
vi. The chairing of Cabinet,
vii. The unilateral alternation of ministerial mandates, and
viii. The position of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Publicity doubling up as the Spokesperson of the President.

2.3 The party urges the immediate convening of a SADC Summit to resolve the matter which SADC Summit should clearly discuss the roadmap to an election and the guarantees to the legitimacy of this election.
Indigenization

3. On indigenization, the MDC believes in broad-based empowerment for the people and for this reason condemns the current proposed indigenization regulations on the basis that they are elitist, selective and a mere vehicle for further enrichment of the rich few, self aggrandizement, patronage, clientelism and further destruction of the economy.

3.2 The MDC recognises that the country currently suffers from lack of growth, lack of capacity, lack of jobs and weak aggregate demand. To this extent therefore, the major imperative should be that of growing the economy so that more jobs are created, foreign direct investment flows in and capacity is increased. The focus and attempt to redistribute a tiny sick economy is wrong and misplaced.

3.3 It is our firm view that the original indigenization and empowerment act should be repealed and be replaced by a new law that balances the overwhelming imperator of growing and investment in the economy against the fundamental obligation of broad based empowerment.

3.4 In any event, it is important to marry the indigenization programme with the experience of the land reform programme. It is important to conclude the land reform audit urgently so that lessons from the same are properly applied to any programme that seeks to address the plight of previously disadvantaged Zimbabweans.

Diamonds and Chiadzwa

4. The party notes with concern the lack of transparency and due process in the handling of diamonds at Chiadzwa and in the granting of concessions and mining rights in the same.

4.2 The MDC demands that all concessions and mining rights should be granted on the principle of transparency and openness involving public auctioning or public tender processes to be carried out by an independent authority.

4.3 That the current investors at Chiadzwa should comply with Zimbabwe's laws, in particular the Zimbabwe Investment Act and are prepared to make equity investment to the State, failure of which their rights should revert to the State.

4.4 That due process of the law and all court orders issued in respect of the Chiadzwa claims should be honoured and respected.

4.5 That all income from Chiadzwa should be accounted for transparently to the State to enable the same to attend to capital and recurrent expenditure and in particular the adequate remuneration of civil servants.

4.6 That the Zimbabwean government must speed up compliance with the Kimberly Process and those concerned must equally speed up the process of certification.

4.7 That the interests of the Marange people must be made paramount and due process, decency and fairness must be applied in the processes of compensations and relocations of affected Marange communities.

Resolution on violence and the rule of law

5. As a party, we are aware of the re-emergence of violence in the provinces and the mushrooming of pungwe bases in the country.

5.2 We are also aware of increased intimidation and the threats and promises that violence will be unleashed after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

5.3 We are also aware that attempts will be made to violently force citizens of Zimbabwe to propagate for the adoption of the Kariba draft in the current constitution making process.

5.4 The MDC strongly condemns violence and coercion in any form whatsoever and demands that Article 18 of the GPA must be respected and honoured.

5.5 The MDC is also concerned about the selective application of the law including the Attorney General's failure and reluctance to prosecute perpetrators of violence following the March 2008 elections in clear breach of Article 18.5 (c) and (j) of the GPA.

5.6 On another note, the MDC condemns the slow rate of work by the Constitution Commissions appointed and sworn-in in March 2010. Three months down the line, the MDC believes the Media Commission in particular ought to have tangible results of its work.

5.7 The MDC further notes and condemns the continuous breach of Article 19 of the GPA and notes the hate speech and corrosive propaganda propagated in the Herald.

Resolution on the state of the economy and conditions of service of civil servants and workers in general

6. The MDC is a social democratic party born from the struggle of the working people of Zimbabwe. To this extent, the MDC strives to uphold and improve the living conditions of workers including the paying of reasonable and equitable wages. The right to a basic wage being a fundamental right.

6.2 The MDC however recognises and abhors the destruction of the Zimbabwe economy by years of Zanu PF mis-governance and misrule. In the last 13 years, the Zimbabwe economy has lost 60 percent of its value, has seen continuous negative growth rate and has witnessed capacity utilization shrinking to 4 -10 percent with unemployment reaching 85 percent.

6.3 In addition, a huge debt continues to stifle an economy that virtually has no savings and no Foreign Direct Investment.

6.4 The MDC however feels that space can and should be created through revenue arising from the transparent and professional handling of mining resources and in particular income from diamond mining in Chiadzwa.

6.5 The MDC is also aware of thousands of ghost workers and Zanu PF militia on the civil service wage roll. It is important that the civil service audit be concluded as a matter of urgency. In this regard, we find it unacceptable that the Public Service Commission continues to stall the same by refusing to supply critical information to auditors.

6.6 We also express unhappiness with profligate government expenditure in particular millions of dollars haemorrhaging through travel and subsistence as well as huge amounts being spent on acquisition of non-productive capital in particular motor vehicles.

6.7 The MDC also finds unacceptable the charges being levied by public utilities and local authorities. These charges are high and bear no reflections to a cost structure but rather to high wages and allowances that are being paid to senior management in these service providers and local authorities.

6.8 The party also finds unacceptable the huge speculative rentals being charged on the people by greedy landlords in many residential areas. These rentals are eating into the disposable income of the people of Zimbabwe.

6.9 In light of all the above, the MDC recognises the imperator of strong and decisive leadership and discipline in the management of this economy if the structural issues raised above are to be overcome.

Committing our Party, our country to God.

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