Constitution of Zaire
From Roach Busters
Constitution of the Republic of Zaire
(published on June 27, 1988)
Preamble
We, the People of Zaire, reunited in the midst of the Popular Movement of the Revolution;
Guided by Mobutuism;
Convinced of our fundamental ways, defined by the N'Sele Manifesto;
Conscious that only the politics of recourse, at the authenticity we affirm our personality, from realizing our objectives and effectively contributing to the universal civilization;
Moved by the will of unity warrant and the integrated territorial, to assure each of the material well-being and to believe the conditions of use at the moral and spiritual blossoming of all Zairians;
Convinced that only our mass mobilization, all under the guide of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, permits the Zairian people to guarantee their political, economic, social and cultural independence;
Convinced that there is no large period in servitude and dependence;
Convinced that the people of Africa cannot fully liberate themselves of a foreign empire, by a united Africa;
Proclaim our membership at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Conscious of our responsibilities by God, our ancestors, Africa and the world;
Solemnly declare to adopt the present Constitution.
Title 1
Of the Territory and the Sovereignty of the Republic
Article 1
The Republic of Zaire is a united, democratic, socialist and secular State.
Article 2
The Republic of Zaire recognizes the town of Kinshasa and the regions.
The limits of the town of Kinshasa and the regions like that the number and the denomination of them are fixed by the law.
Article 3
Kinshasa is the capital of the Republic of Zaire.
Article 4
The emblem of the Republic is a solid green flag, adorned in the center with a yellow circle, in which there is a right hand holding a torch with a red flame.
Article 5
The motto is : Peace - Justice - Labor.
Article 6
The coat of arms is composed of a leopard head, framed, to the left is a palm tree branch and an arrow, and on the right is a piece of ivory and a spear, all resting on a stone.
Article 7
The national anthem is : "The Zairians"
Article 8
The Zairian people are organized in the middle of the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
Article 9
The power originated from the people that is exercised by the President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, which is the right President of the Republic, and by the organs of the Popular Movement of the Revolution or the vision of the referendum.
No fraction of the people, neither any individuals cannot assign themselves the practice.
Article 10
The Zairian soil and underground belong to the State.
The conditions of the concession are fixed by the law.
Article 11
The Zairian nationality is one and exlusive. It cannot be detained concurrently with another nationality.
The law fixes the conditions of recognition, of aquisition and the loss of Zairian nationality.
The fundamental rights and responsibilites of citizens
Article 12
All Zairians are equal under the law and have right to equal legal protection.
No Zairian can, in the matter of education and acceptance to public functions, nor in any other matter, do anything of a discriminatory nature, that results in the law or an executive action, by reason of religion, race or ethnicity, sex, place of birth or residence.
Article 13
All people have a right to life and physical integrity.
No one can be submitted to torture, or any inhumane or degrading treatments.
No one can be put to death without a planned law case and in the form the law prescribed.
Article 14
All people have a right to free development of their personage, under protest of the right of others and in public order.
No one can be held in slavery or servitude or in a similar condition.
No one can be compelled to forced or obligatory labor, except in law cases.
Article 15
Individual liberty is guaranteed.
No one can be prosecuted, arrested or detained except in virtue of the law and in the form prescribed by the law.
No one can be prosecuted for an action or an oversight that does not constitute a legal infraction at the moment where it has been committed at the moment of prosecution.
Any person accused of an infraction is presumed innocent until his/her culpability has been established by a definitive judgment.
Article 16
The Course and Tribunal legally constitute the only authority to declare rights. Neither the commissions or the tribunal could have come into being under some denomination or the other.
Stronger penalties cannot be applicable at the moment where an infraction has been committed.
All judgment is motivated. It is pronounced to the public audience.
The audience of the Course and Tribunal are public except when the publicity is harmful for the order of the public or the best; in this case, the Course and Tribunal order the heard case.
Each has the right to self-defense or to defend another by one's choice.
No one can be allowed to go against the decision of the assigned judge.
Article 17
In the Republic, there is no State religion.
All people have a right to their thoughts, conscience and religion.
All people have a right to practice their religion or convictions, alone or in a community, in public or in private, and also a right to worship, educate themselves, practice, do their religious rituals, under protest of the public order and good customs.
The law fixes the constitution's conditions on religious sects.
Article 18
All Zairians have the right to freedom of expression.
This right implies that the freedom to express one's opinions and sentiments, notably by speaking, writing, images, under reservation of respect for the public order and morals.
Article 19
The family, based naturally on the human community, is placed under protection of the People's Movement of the Revolution. It will be organized in a manner that assures unity and stability.
All Zairians have the right to marry and raise a family. The law fixes the rules of marriage.
Medical aid and education to be given to those children, constituting, from the parents, a right and duty to exercise their authority and help to the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
Article 20
Children will be provided with national public education. National education recognizes that public schools and private schools will be approved and controlled by the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
The law fixes the conditions of the creation and functioning of educational establishments.
Article 21
Rights to individual or collective property is guaranteed. It is not possible to taint these rights in virtue of the law, and for grounds of general interest, under reserve of an equitable and beforehand indemnity to deposit to the aggrieved bearer within his rights.
Article 22
All Zairians have the inviolable right to their homes.
The public authorities cannot disregard this right in the way defined by the law and the form the law prescribes.
Article 23
All people have the right to keep secret their correspondence and all forms of communication.
It is not allowed to disregard this right in the way defined by the law.
Article 24
The practice of art, commerce and industry has its free circulation guaranteed to all Zairians on the whole tract of the territory of the Republic under conditions fixed by the law.
Article 25
No Zairian can be evicted from the territory of the Republic.
All Zairians have the right to freely secure their dwelling or residence in any place of the territory of the Republic, and enjoy their rights recognized by the present Constitution and the laws.
This right cannot be limited when one is in virtue of the law, and in the case determined by the law.
Article 26
All Zairians have the right to belong to an association or society.
Groupings of whose the target is an activity that contradicts the laws or groups that disrupt the public order are prohibited.
Article 27
All Zairians have the right and duty to contribute, by their work, to the construction and prosperity of the Nation.
No one can be aggrieved of his/her work because of his/her origin, sex, or beliefs.
The right to strike is recognized for the worker who exercises it as a syndicalist action and conforms to the laws.
Article 28
All Zairians have the responsibility to the good order of activities by the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
At this title, he has the duty, by a vigilance of all the events, to hold up the Revolution, and to defend the acquisitions and safeguard the national unity and integrity of the Territory.
Article 29
All Zairians can elect at the age of eighteen.
A law fixes the conditions to be an elector.
Article 30
All Zairians, age of eighteen and above, are compelled to military service; this is to serve a civil service in the conditions fixed by the law.
Article 31
All foreigners, that are found on the territory of the Republic, have the protection according to people and effects in virtue of the present Constitution, barring exceptions established by the law.
It is not possible to exercise reserved rights to the Zairians by the present Constitution, that is in a defined case and is determined by the law.
Title III
Of the Organization and the Exercise of Power
Chapter 1
Of the Popular Movement of the Revolution
Article 32
In the Republic of Zaire, there is only one institution, the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
Article 33
The Popular Movement of the Revolution is the Zairian Nation, politically organized.
The doctrine is Mobutism.
All Zairians are Membes of the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
Chapter 2
Parts of the Popular Movement of the Revolution
Article 34
The Parts of the Popular Movement of the Revolution are:
The president of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic; Congress; Central Committee Political Bureau Legislative Council Executive Council Judiciary Council.
Section I: Of the President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic
Article 35
The President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, is the central organ to make decisions and control the activities of the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
Article 36
The President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution is the rightful President of the Republic.
He represents the Nation.
He is the guarantee of the national independence and the integrity of the territory.
He watches over the well-functioning of all the parts of the Popular Movement of the Revolution.
He is the Executive Chief. He determines and conducts the politics of the State, fixes the program of action for the Executive Council and watches over its application.
He presides over Congress, the Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Executive Council.
Article 37
The President of the Popular Movement:t of the Revolution, President of the Republic, is elected for seven years at both the direct and secret (?) universal suffrage.
All Zairian citizens by birth, and age of 40 and above, can be elected President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic.
Article 38
The candidates for the post of President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, are received and examined by the Central Committee.
The Central Committee orders a candidate and presents him to Congress who proposes him to the electing people. The election takes place at the majority of the expressed voters
A law fixes the conditions of eligibility, the declaration of the candidates, the execution of the ballots, the counting and proclamation of the results.
Article 39
Before entering duty, the President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, swears before the nation, in the presence of the Supreme Court of Justice who takes action, the following statement:
“I, X, elected President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution and the rightful President of the Republic, I swear to observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Zaire, to maintain the independence of the Nation and the integrity of the Territory, to follow and safeguard in all circumstances, the doctrine and ideas of the Popular Movement of the Revolution.”
Article 40
The functions of the President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, cease due to his demise, destitution or definitive impeachment.
The Central Committee takes note of a demise and definitive impeachment; it takes action of resignation; it declares the destitution conforming to article 63 of the present Constitution.
In all numbered cases on the 1st paragraph, the Central Committee informs the Nation by a message.
Whenever the vacancy is taken note of by the Central Committee, the functions of the President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, are assumed by the Central Committee that exercises them by the oldest of the members. All the time, the dispositions of article 42 of the present Constitution are not applicable to him.
The election of the new President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, takes place thirty days a month and sixty days after the opening of the vacancy.
Article 41
The President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, fixes the structures of the Popular Movement of the Revolution that is not determined by the present Constitution.
Article 42
The President of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, President of the Republic, names and revokes the members of the Central committee and Political Bureau.
He names and revokes the First Commission of the State, the Commissioners of the State, the Secretaries of the State, the Officers of the Armed Forces, the Ambassadors and Messengers of foreign policy, the Region Governors, the Region Vice-Governors, so that the functions of the commandment of the Public Administration and the officials of the Parastatal Organizations.
He names and revokes the Magistrates of the Headquarter and Chief Constable.
He names and revokes the members of the General Accounting Office.
He receives the oath of the members of the Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Executive Council, the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and the General Constable near this court, the members of the General Accounting Office, the Secretaries of State, the Region Governors, the Region Vice-Governors and the Officers of the Armed Forces.
He is the Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces.
Article 43
