MANIFESTO OF THE ZIMBABWEAN DEMOCRAT (ZD)

Zimbabwe will be better with a Zimbabwean Democrat 

Government

The Zimbabwean Democrat exists:-

(a) To build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance of conformity.

(b) To champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals. We acknowledge and respect the right of every human being to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full.

(c) To spread and distribute power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the State is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions that affect their lives.

(d) To build a nation in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their diverse cultures will be able to develop freely.

We believe that at different periods a particular generation should be responsible for the fate of our country and, therefore each such generation must be given opportunity to fully play its role in the governance of the nation.

Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, color, religion, age, disability, sex and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality.

Recognizing that the quest for freedom and justice can never end we promote human rights and open government, a sustainable economy which serves genuine need, public services of the highest quality, international action based on the recognition of the interdependence of all the world’s people and responsible stewardship of the earth and its resources.

We believe that people should be involved in running their communities. We are determined to strengthen the democratic process and ensure that there is a just and representative system of government with effective legislative institutions, freedom of

1. Information, decisions taken at the lowest practicable level and a free and fair voting system for all elections.

We will at all times defend the right to speak, write, worship, associate and vote freely, and we will protect the rights of citizens to enjoy privacy in their own lives and homes.

We believe that sovereignty rests with the people and that authority in a democracy derives from the people. We therefore acknowledge their right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs and commit ourselves to the promotion of a democratic federal framework within which as much power as feasible is exercised by the regions of the nation. We similarly commit ourselves to the promotion of a flourishing system of democratic Local Government in which decisions are taken and services delivered at the most local level which is viable.

We will foster a strong and sustainable economy which encourages the necessary wealth creating process, develops and uses the skill of the people and works to the benefit of all, with a just distribution of the rewards of success. We want to see democracy, participation and the co-operative principle of industry and commerce within a competitive environment in which the State allows the market to operate freely where possible but intervene where necessary. We will promote scientific research and innovation and will harness technological change to human advantage.

We will work for a sense of partnership and community solidarity in all areas of life. We recognize that the independence of individuals is safeguarded by their personal ownership of property, but that the market alone does not distribute wealth or income fairly. We support the widest possible distribution of wealth and promote the rights of all citizens to social provision and cultural activity.

We will seek to make public services responsive to the people they serve, to encourage variety and innovation within them and to make them available on equal terms to all.

Our responsibility for justice and liberty cannot be confined by national boundaries; we are committed to fight poverty, oppression, hunger, ignorance, disease and aggression wherever they occur and to promote the free movement of ideas, people, goods and services.

Setting aside national sovereignty when necessary, we will work with other nations towards an equitable and peaceful international order and a durable system of common security. Within the African Union we affirm the values of federalism and integration and work for unity based on these principles. We will contribute to the process of world peace, the elimination of world poverty and the collective safeguarding of democracy by playing a full and constructive role in international organizations which share similar aims and objectives.

These are the conditions of liberty and social justice which is the responsibility of each citizen and the duty of the State to protect and enlarge.

Our case is simple: that Zimbabwe can and must be better.

2. The vision is one of national renewal, a country with drive, purpose and energy. The Zimbabwean Democrat is a party of ideas and ideals but not of outdated ideology.

What counts is what works. The objectives are radical. The means will be modern.

We believe in Zimbabwe. It is a great country with a great history. The Zimbabwean people are a great people. But we believe Zimbabwe can and must be better: better schools, better hospitals, better ways of tackling crime, of building a modern welfare state, of equipping ourselves for a new world economy.

We want a Zimbabwe that is one nation, with shared values and purpose, where merit comes before privilege, a Zimbabwe for the many not the few, a Zimbabwe strong and sure of itself at home and abroad.

We want to renew our country's faith in the ability of its government, people and politics to deliver this new Zimbabwe. We want to do it by making a limited set of important promises and achieving them. This is the purpose of the bond of trust we set out to achieve, in which specific commitments are put before you. Hold us to them. They are our covenant with you.

We want to renew faith in politics by being honest about the last 30 years. Some things past leadership got right. We will not change them. It is where they got things wrong that we will make change. We have no intention or desire to replace one set of dogmas by another.

We want to renew faith in politics through a government that will govern in the interest of the many, the broad majority of people who work hard, play by the rules, pay their dues and feel let down by a political system that gives the breaks to the few, to an elite at the top increasingly out of touch with the rest of us.

We want, above all, to govern in a way that brings our country together, that unites our nation in facing the tough and dangerous challenges of a new economy and changed society in which we must live. We want a Zimbabwe which we all feel part of, in whose future we all have a stake, in which what we want for our own children are what we want for the children of all.

People are cynical about politics and distrustful of political promises, because talk is cheap and leadership in the past have only talked without the slightest intention to stand by the talk. There have been many broken promises. That is why we have made it our guiding rule not to promise what we cannot deliver; and to deliver what we promise. The Politics of ZD is not the politics of 100 days that dazzles for a time, and then fizzles out. It is not the politics of a revolution, but of a ZD start, the patient rebuilding and renewing of this country -renewal that can take root and build over time.

That is one way in which politics in Zimbabwe will gain a new lease of life. But there is another. We aim to put behind us the bitter political struggles of tribe and ethnic nationality that have torn our country apart for too many decades. Many of these conflicts have no relevance whatsoever to the modern world. It is time for this country

3. To move on and move forward. We are proud of what our founding fathers achieved, however, not very proud of what we have achieved in recent times - but we must learn from our history, not be chained to it.

Every General Elections offer opportunity for the Zimbabwean people to give their verdict upon the last four years of the ruling Government. Let the people vote; let us work together again.

Our people face a series of interlocking crises. Prices are rocketing. Past Leadership has brought the country to the edge of total collapse and breakdown. More and more people are losing their jobs. Firms are going out of business. Housing costs are out of reach for so many families. The environment now threatens us with still higher prices of commodities, of higher prices of the basic necessities of life, of higher prices of food; and with a further loss of Zimbabwe's control of its own affairs. We will correct this.

The Zimbabwean Democrat's call to action: the nation's opportunity

The 2012 General Election is a decisive opportunity to the nation to reconstruct the foundations of its life.

The 2012 election will decide whether our country is to be a United Zimbabwe or a divided Zimbabwe; one that is brought together by proper provision, prudent investment and concern for the interests of the whole nation, or one that is pulled apart by poverty, increased corruption and privilege for the few who have been in leadership and neglect for the rest.

Under the Zanu PF Government there have been:

Years of record unemployment, relentless industrial closures and redundancies, of flooding imports and shrunken investment.

Thirty years of increased state control, of centralizing government, of abolition of rights of representation and negotiation.

Thirty years of rising crime and corruption, of greater insecurity on the streets and in the home. 

Thirty years of meanness towards the needy in our country.

Thirty years of growing division – in our communities, among our people, in health, in opportunity, in housing conditions in work and in income - between the rich and poor, our communities and our states.

Proper support for education, strengthened research and development and long-term, low interest finance for industrial growth are all essential if Zimbabwe is to gain the vitality necessary to outpace nations who have been building these assets for years.

4. These are essential too if we are to generate the wealth needed for the security, care and opportunity fundamental to the individual freedom of women and men of all ages and origins. When our country faces the common pressures on the environment, the common dangers of crime, the common costs of unemployment, under-investment and under-performance together, our country has every commonsense reason to meet those challenges together.

The ZD is a broad-based movement for progress and justice. The ZD is the political arm of none other than the Zimbabwean people as a whole. Our values are the same: the equal worth of all, with no one cast aside; fairness and justice within strong communities.

We want a country in which people get on, do well, and make a success of their lives. We have no time for the politics of envy. We need more successful entrepreneurs, not fewer of them. But these life-chances should be for all the people. And we want a society in which ambition and compassion are seen as partners not opposites - where we value public service as well as material wealth.

The Zimbabwean Democrat believes in a society where we do not simply pursue our own individual aims but where we hold many aims in common and work together to achieve them. How we build the industry and employment opportunities of the future; how we tackle the division and inequality in our society; how we care for and enhance our environment and quality of life; how we develop modern education and health services; how we create communities that are safe, where mutual respect and tolerance are the order of the day. These are things we must achieve together as a country.

The vision is one of national renewal, a country with drive, purpose and energy. A Zimbabwe equipped to prosper in a global economy of technological change; with a modern welfare state; its politics more accountable; and confident of its place in the world

Zimbabwe Will Win

Zimbabwe is crying out for change. Only The Zimbabwean Democrat government can bring it about.

We will as a priority tackle the immediate tragedy and waste of unemployment. We will commit resources to modernizing and strengthening the industries and services that earn Zimbabwe a living. We will ensure the expansion that is necessary for a lasting economic recovery. That is our strategy.

It begins from the understanding that people are Zimbabwe's most precious resource. It is rooted in the confidence that, with the right skills, the right equipment and the backing of a government that is committed to encouraging enterprise and innovation, Zimbabwe's people can make our country more efficient, more competitive and more socially just.

5. We do not believe that everything could or should be done by government. But we know, from our own history and from the example set by developed economies, that national economic success cannot be achieved without government.

Zimbabwe will win with a Zimbabwean Democrat government that invests to enable people to use their abilities and to stimulate modern training, research, development, production and marketing. These are the ingredients of economic vitality, and the foundations of fairness.

Immediate Action for National Recovery

Zimbabwe faces a huge task of national reconstruction. From day one, ZD government must start to get Zimbabwe working again. It must get the economy out of recession; it must lay foundations for the future. Recovery must be based on investment, for only investment will create lasting prosperity.

Today millions of people have lost their jobs, their home or their business. The Zimbabwean Democtrat government's National Recovery Program will start to remove that fear with immediate action on investment, jobs and training. It will combat recession now and build sustained and sustainable recovery for the future.

Zimbabwe's economic problems are deep-seated. We will not be able to do at once everything that we would like to do. But we will get down to business right away. And as with any properly-run business our immediate program will be part of a strategy for long-term success.

Freedom and Fairness for All Zimbabweans

We are determined to make Zimbabwe a fairer and freer society. To us and to the majority of the Zimbabwean people a civilized community is one in which citizens band together to provide, out of community resources to which all contribute, essential services like health, education and pensions that the great majority of people can not afford to provide for themselves at time of need.

The Zimbabwean Democrat's objective is to broaden and deepen the liberty of all individuals in our community: to free people from poverty, exploitation and fear; to free them to realize their full potential; to see that everyone has the liberty to enjoy real chances, to make real choices.

Enhancing Rights, Increasing Freedom

Under the current leadership, Zimbabwe has been a harsh place to live in. Freedoms built up during the short period of our early democracy in the 80’s have been removed.

The Zimbabwean Democrat will restore and enhance those freedoms in a Zimbabwe where life can be more pleasant and fulfilling.

We believe that positive steps are needed to help women and middle-class get a fair deal, and to attain more democracy in the workplace.

6. Women's Rights More than half of Zimbabwe's people - the women of our country - are still denied many essential rights. The ZD Government will create Ministry for Women, whose portfolio will include making sure that, in framing their policies, all government departments listen and respond to women's needs and concerns.

In particular, women must have the right to work and equal rights at work. In addition to our new provision for training opportunities and protection against discrimination, a Zimbabwean Democrat Government will help the large number of women who are unemployed to get employment. We will legislate that a particular percentage of jobs are reserved for women.

Democracy in the Workplace

Workers' rights have been eroded, or in some cases removed entirely in our nation.

The Zimbabwean Democrat's policy will be one for new rights and responsibilities which means legislation to foster good industrial relations and democratic participation in industry and trade unions. We believe that the law should be used to enlarge, not diminish, the freedom of workers to control their environment.

We will:

• Improve the protection available against unfair dismissal. We shall make the legislation apply from the time of employment. Reinstatement will be the normal outcome of a successful finding of unfair treatment. We will ensure that justice is done in cases where workers have been unfairly dismissed.

• Extend employment protection to all workers and abolish all forms of casual labor in industries and companies.

• Improve statutory protection in respect of health and safety at work.

• Legislate on new provision for fair pay in our labor laws.

• Strengthen the mediation process to put more emphasis on conciliation and arbitration.

• Take steps to develop stable and effective negotiating machinery, promote trade union membership and organization, and encourage union recognition by employers.

• Restore the right to belong to a trade union to every employee.

• Ensure that the law guarantees the essential legal freedom of workers and their unions to organize effective industrial action.

• Provide a statutory framework of measures to underpin the participative rights of union members, for example by laying down general principles for inclusion in union rule books. These will be based on a right for union members to have a secret ballot on decisions relating to strikes, and for the method of election of union executives to be based on a system of secret ballots.

• In consultation with the labor Unions, we will establish a new independent tribunal, presided over by a legally-qualified person. This will have the duty of acting on complaints by union members if they consider that these statutory principles have been breached.

7. The Jobs Program

ZD Government will as a matter of priority after its inauguration, call together a National Economic Summit to assess fully the condition of the economy and set the recovery program in motion - producing the jobs that need to be done by people who need to do them in a country that wants them done.

The Summit will establish the first stage of the National Economic Assessment. This will identify the concerted action that will need to be taken by government, employers in the private and public sectors and trade unions to increase investment, contain inflation and achieve sustained recovery.

The Anti-Poverty Program

The spread of poverty in the past eight years has stained the whole nation, and widened misery and disadvantage amongst old and young. Much of it is the result of deliberate government policies. Millions of poor people endure it in despair. The Zimbabwean Democrat government will combat poverty directly.

New Strength for Industry

For many years the Zimbabwean industry has been left to drift and decline, our oil revenues have been wasted and the business community has concentrated upon short-term movements of capital at the expense of Zimbabwean manufacturing industry.

ZD is committed to rebuilding our industrial base. Our country must make the best use of computers and information technology to develop the modern means of making a living as the oil runs down and the pressures of technical change and international competition intensify.

The Zimbabwean Democrat Government will create a new Ministry of Science and Technology to promote a major increase in research and development. It will coordinate the activities and budgets of government departments involved in these areas and will encourage, in conjunction with industry and the scientific community, the full application of science to industrial processes and products.

Plan for Training

For modern, wealth-creating industry we need a well-trained workforce. Zimbabwean industry is hardly involved in any form of training of its workforce. Zimbabwean Democrat will therefore establish a national training program to bring about a major advance in the spread and standard of skills

8. A Sensible Energy Policy

Efficiency in industry and security in the community both depend on reliable and safe supplies of energy available at acceptable cost. ZD will look for alternatives for energy i.e. coal and work to make the energy industry more competitive and efficient.

We will pursue a privatization policy of the energy sector. Zimbabwe's oil reserves have a limited life. ZD’s co-coordinated energy program will ensure the most sensible use of our reserves while protecting our environment and stimulating employment.

Prosperous Agriculture

A more efficient agricultural industry can clearly make a valuable contribution to Zimbabwe's recovery. We will support good environmental practices in agriculture.

To give Zimbabwe's producers the backing they need, the burden of agricultural support must be shifted from consumers. The direction of support must be shifted away from blanket support for commodities, towards helping the farmers who need it most, such as those who work on agricultural lands. To help bring this about we will introduce new, long-term programs for agriculture.

Investing in Health

ZD Government will create National Health Service (NHS) program that is modern and will meet the aspirations of the Zimbabwean. ZD Government will establish the NHS in its rightful place as a high quality service for the prevention and treatment of illness, free at the time of use to all who need attention, equipped to meet the changing pressures of need as they relate, for instance, to an aging population and the requirements of proper provision for people suffering from mental illness.

A Caring Community

The quality of life of the elderly and of disabled people can and must be improved by community services. We believe that retirement should be comfortable and interesting -a time of freedom and choice, not anxiety and loneliness. We believe that disability should not be a disqualification from good standards of living and liberty.

Education for Zimbabwe's Future

Our children are our future. We have a moral and material duty to see that children and young people are fully equipped to deal with the complexities and challenges which face them now and which they will meet as citizens; parents and workers in the future. Our children must be provided with a system of education that enables them to control that future.

9. We will ensure that our system of education is democratic and just, that it is creative and compassionate, and that it is one in which our youngsters can fully exploit the advantages of science and technology with confidence and in safety.

In pursuit of those objectives, ZD Government will invest in education so that the abilities of all children and adults from all home back grounds and in every part of our country are discovered and nourished.

ZD Government values the research and teaching contribution made by Zimbabwe's higher education system. We will ensure that our universities and polytechnics get the resources they need to restore and expand the opportunity for all qualified young people seeking higher education to secure places. We will ensure that more adults have access to higher education to give them the 'second chance' of personal development

We will also invest in research in higher education, in order to provide the facilities and opportunities necessary to sustain standards of excellence, to retain and attract the highest talents and to encourage the industrial and commercial application of research output.

Strengthening Democracy

We will seek to strengthen our young democracy and introduce state aid for political parties.

Rural Area

Under previous governments, the problems of the rural areas have become steadily more serious - the lack of jobs, the poor housing, and the lack of transportation, post offices, shops and schools.

Zimbabwean Democrat will give our rural communities the chance to thrive again. Our policies include better public transport, new mobile facilities for health care and social services and extra help to keep open local schools and post offices.

Towards a Fuller Life

Life is not only work. Zimbabwean Democrat will make provision for the co-ordination and development of leisure amenities and the leisure and cultural industries.

Our Sport program will provide resources for physical education and training through more playing fields and facilities, better equipment and well-trained teachers and instructors. We will nourish special talents and encourage wider participation in sport.

We will encourage schools to develop recreation facilities and to open up such recreational facilities to the whole community and prevent the selling off of school and other sports grounds.

10. We will set up a Sports Trust to channel resources into the development of community sport, community sporting facilities and the attraction of major international sporting events to Zimbabwe.

Gripped by the lack of visionary leadership in the past, Zimbabwe needs a government with a clear sense of direction and purpose. A government with the people and the policies to get Zimbabwe working again and to achieve sustained recovery - strength with staying power. ZD Government will be such a government.

An election is not only a choice between policies, important though policies are. An election is also a choice between values and at the core of our convictions is belief in individual liberty.

We therefore believe:

First, that for liberty to have real meaning the standards of community provision must be high and access to that provision must be wide.

Second, that those rights of the individual must, like all others in a free society, belong to all men and women of every age, class and ethnic origin and be balanced by responsibilities of fair contribution and law-abiding conduct.

Third, that for rights and responsibilities to be exercised fully and fairly, government in Zimbabwe as in other democracies, must work to build prosperity by properly supporting research, innovation, the improvement of skills, the infrastructure and long-term industrial development.

Our vision for Zimbabwe is founded on these values. Guided by them, we will make our country more competitive, creative, and just; more secure against crime, aggression and environmental danger. We want government to serve the whole nation -using its power to realize this vision. ZD Government will be such a government.

We shall empower people as citizens and as consumers of public and private services.

We will strengthen equality before the law and equality of opportunity for the majority of the population -women. Neither their legal status nor their chances in education, training and employment are full or free. We will ensure that the barriers to fairness are removed.

A government which business can do business with

Modern government has a strategic role not to replace the market but to ensure that the market works properly. Nations across the world recognize that industrial policy must be at the heart of economic policy. It is the government's responsibility to create the conditions for enterprise to thrive.

Business needs sustained and balanced growth, with stable exchange rates, steady and competitive interest rates and low inflation. We will deliver them.

11.

Business must have a high level of education, science and skills, incentives for high-tech investment, modern transport, and strong regional economies for new developments.

We will deliver them.

We will invest in modern transport Zimbabweans and the business community needs fast, safe transport, the Zimbabwean Democrat Government will act to make sure they get it. We will look for possibilities for alternatives to road transport. We will seek Private finance for future high-speed rail network which will eventually link every region with proper environmental and security safeguards.

In industrial relations, there will instead be basic minimum rights for the individual at the workplace, where our aim is partnership not conflict between employers and employees. In economic management, we accept the global economy as a reality.

On crime, we believe in personal responsibility and in punishing crime, but also tackling its underlying causes - so, tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime, different from the approach of the past.

Over-centralization of government and lack of accountability was a problem in previous governments. The Zimbabwean Democrat will be committed to the democratic renewal of our country through decentralization and the elimination of excessive government secrecy.

In addition, we will face up to the new issues that confront us. We will be the party of welfare reform. In consultation and partnership with the people, we will design a modern welfare state based on rights and duties going together, fit for the modern world.

We believe in a F.R.E.S.H Zimbabwe where F stands for Faith, R for Responsibility, E for Equality, S for Security and H for Hope.

This is our COVENANT with the Zimbabwean people.