Mozambique is an African country located on the shores of the Indian Ocean, sharing a border with Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and South Africa. The population of this country is approx 3,25,13,000 with 8,01,590 square kilometers area. The official language is Portuguese, but many languages are spoken in practice. 99% of Mozambique is black. In terms of religion, 55% believe in Christianity, 26% in traditional religion and 17% in Islam.
The constitution of Mozambique is one of the best constitutions in the world. At the very beginning of the Constitution, Article 2 defines sovereignty very wisely. A referendum shall be considered valid and binding where at least half of the registered voters have participitated in it.
Armed organizations of a military or paramilitary nature; Also anything that encourages violence or discord is prohibited. Freedom to practice religion or not is recognized. Everyone shall have the right to claim compensation in accordance with law for damages of their fundamental rights caused by violations. Testimony obtained through torture or evidence obtained by illegal means have no legal basis. All citizens shall have the right not to obey orders that violate civil rights, liberties and guarantees or that are unlawful. Advertising rules will be regulated by law and all forms of hidden, indirect and misleading advertising are prohibited.
These are positive aspects. Now let's discuss the negative aspects.
There is an opportunity to validate the new law at a back-date. The State shall recognize and respect the customary authority recognized by the citizen - and anything unwritten is dangerous. A critical situation can arise at any moment.
Note that the flag of Mozambique is unusual. A photo of the deadly Kalashnikov rifle is attached to the photo flag. Why? Wasn't there anything else?
Admirable Articles of Mozambique's Constitution
Article 2. Sovereignty and Legality
1. Sovereignty is vested in the people.
2. The Mozambican people shall exercise their sovereignty in the manner provided for in the Constitution.
3. The State is subordinate to the Constitution and is founded on legality.
4. Constitutional rules shall prevail over all other rules of the legal order.
Article 37. Disability
Disabled citizens shall enjoy fully the rights enshrined in the Constitution and shall be subject to the same duties, except those which their disability prevents them from exercising or fulfilling.
Article 38. Duty to Respect the Constitution
1. All citizens shall have the duty to respect the constitutional order.
2. Acts contrary to the provisions of the Constitution shall be subject to punishment in terms of the law.
Article 39. Acts against National Unity
All acts intended to undermine national unity, to disturb social harmony or to create divisions or situations of privilege or discrimination based on colour, race, sex, ethnic origin, place of birth, religion, level of education, social position, physical or mental ability, the marital status of one’s parents, profession or political preference, shall be punished in terms of the law
Article 41. Other Individual Rights
All citizens shall have the right to their honour, good name and their reputation, as well as the right to defend their public image and to protect their privacy.
Article 48. Freedom of Expression and Information
1. All citizens shall have the right to freedom of expression and to freedom of the press, as well as the right to information.
2. The exercise of freedom of expression, which consists of the ability to impart one’s opinions by all lawful means, and the exercise of the right to information shall not be restricted by censorship.
3. Freedom of the press shall include, in particular, the freedom of journalistic expression and creativity, access to sources of information, protection of independence and professional secrecy, and the right to establish newspapers, publications and other means of dissemination.
4. In the public sector media, the expression and confrontation of ideas from all currents of opinion shall be guaranteed.
5. The State shall guarantee the impartiality of the public sector media, as well as the independence of journalists from the Government, the Administration and other political powers.
6. The exercise of the rights and freedoms provided for in this article shall be governed by law on the basis of the imperative respect for the Constitution and for the dignity of the human person.
Article 52. Freedom of Association
1. All citizens shall enjoy freedom of association.
2. Social organisations and associations shall have the right to pursue their aims, to create institutions designed to achieve their specific objectives and to own assets in order to carry out their activities, in accordance with the law.
3. Armed associations of a military or paramilitary nature, as well as associations that promote violence, racism, xenophobia or pursue aims that are against the law, shall be prohibited.
Article 54. Freedom of Conscience, Religion and Worship
1. All citizens shall have the freedom to practice or not to practice a religion.
2. Nobody shall be discriminated against, persecuted, prejudiced, deprived of his or her rights, or benefit from or be exempt from duties, on the grounds of his faith or religious persuasion or practice.
3. Religious denominations shall have the right to pursue their religious aims freely and to own and acquire assets for realising their objectives.
4. The protection of places of worship shall be ensured.
5. The right to conscientious objection shall be guaranteed in terms of the law.
Article 58. Right to Compensation and State Responsibility
1. Everyone shall have the right to claim compensation in accordance with the law, for damages caused by a violation of their fundamental rights.
2. The State shall be responsible for damages caused by the unlawful acts of its agents, in the performance of their functions, without prejudice to rights of recourse available under the law.
Article 65. Principles of Criminal Process
1. In criminal process, the right to defence and to trial is an inviolable right guaranteed to every accused.
2. Criminal trial hearings shall be public, except in so far as it is prudent to exclude or restrict publicity in order to safeguard personal, family, social or moral privacy, or for material reasons of trial security or public order.
3. All evidence obtained through the use of torture, coercion, offences against the physical or moral integrity of the person, the abusive intrusion into their private and family life or into their home, correspondence or telecommunications, shall be invalid.
4. No case may be withdrawn from a court whose competence is established by an earlier law, except in cases specifically provided for by law.
Article 76. Names
Political parties shall be prohibited from using names containing expressions that are directly related to any religious denominations or churches, and from using emblems that may be confused with national or religious symbols.
Article 79. Right of Petition, Complaint and Claim
All citizens shall have the right to present petitions, complaints and claims to the competent authority in order to demand the restitution of their rights violated or in defence of the public interest.
Article 80. Right of Resistance
All citizens shall have the right not to comply with orders that are unlawful or that infringe on their rights, freedoms and guarantees.
Article 81. Right of Popular Action
1. All citizens shall have the right to popular action in accordance with the law, either personally or through associations for defending the interests in question.
2. The right of popular action shall consist of:
a. the right to claim for the injured party or parties such compensation as they are entitled to;
b. The right to advocate the prevention, termination or judicial prosecution of offences against the public health, consumer rights, environmental conservation and cultural heritage;
c. The right to defend the property of the State and of local authorities.
Article 84. Right to Work
1. Work shall be a right and a duty of every citizen.
2. All citizens shall have the right freely to choose their profession.
3. Forced labour shall be prohibited, except where the work is performed within the framework of penal legislation.
Article 87. Right to Strike and Prohibition of Lock Outs
1. Workers shall have the right to strike, and the law shall regulate the exercise of this right.
2. The law shall restrict the exercise of the right to strike in essential services and activities, in the interest of the pressing needs of society and of national security.
3. Lock outs shall be prohibited.
Article 92. Rights of Consumers
1. Consumers shall have the right to quality in the goods and services that they consume, to education and information, to the protection of their health, to the safeguarding of their economic interests and to reparation for damage.
2. Advertising shall be regulated by law and all forms of hidden, indirect and misleading advertising shall be prohibited.
3. Consumer associations and co-operatives shall have the right, within the terms of the law, to State assistance, the right to be heard on issues concerning consumer protection, and title to sue in order to defend the interests of their members.
Article 94. Freedom of Cultural Creativity
1. All citizens shall have the right to freedom of scientific, technical, literary and artistic creativity.
2. The State shall protect rights relating to intellectual property, including copyright, and shall promote the practice and dissemination of literature and art.
Article 98. State Property and Public Domain
1. Natural resources in the soil and the subsoil, in inland waters, in the territorial sea, on the continental shelf and in the exclusive economic zone shall be the property of the State.
2. The public domain of the State shall comprise:
a. the maritime zone;
b. the airspace;
c. archaeological heritage;
d. nature conservation zones;
e. hydraulic resources;
f. energy resources;
g. roads and railways;
h. mineral deposits;
i. other property classified as such by law.
3. The law shall regulate the legal regime of property in the public domain, as well as its management and conservation, and shall distinguish between the public domain of the state, the public domain of local authorities and the public domain of communities, with due respect for the principles of imprescriptibility and immunity from seizure.
Article 109. Land
1. All ownership of land shall vest in the State.
2. Land may not be sold or otherwise disposed of, nor may it be mortgaged or subject to attachment.
3. As a universal means for the creation of wealth and of social well being, the use and enjoyment of land shall be the right of all the Mozambican people.
Article 110. Use and Enjoyment of Land
1. The State shall determine the conditions under which land may be used and enjoyed.
2. The right to use and benefit from land shall be granted to individual or corporate persons, taking into account its social or economic purpose.
Article 111. Rights Acquired Through Inheritance or Occupation of Land
In granting titles for the use and enjoyment of land, the State shall recognise and protect rights acquired through inheritance or by occupation, unless there is a legal reservation or the land has been lawfully granted to another person or entity.
Article 112. Labour
1. Labour is the driving force of development and shall merit respect and protection.
2. The State shall promote the fair distribution of the proceeds of labour.
3. The State maintains that everyone should receive equal pay for equal work.
Article 113. Education
1. The Republic of Mozambique shall promote an educational strategy that aims towards national unity, wiping out illiteracy, mastering science and technology, and providing citizens with moral and civic values.
2. The State shall organise and develop education through a national system of education.
3. Public education shall not pertain to any religion.
4. Education provided by collective and other private entities shall be administered in accordance with the law and shall be subject to State control.
5. The State shall not plan education and culture in accordance with any specific philosophical, aesthetic, political, ideological or religious guidelines.
Article 123. Youth (Part of it)
● The State and society shall stimulate and support the creation of youth organisations for the pursuit of cultural, artistic, recreational, sporting and educational objectives.
● The State, acting in co-operation with associations representing parents and persons in charge of education, and with private institutions and youth organisations, shall adopt a national youth policy capable of promoting and supporting the professional training of young people, their access to first jobs and free intellectual and physical development.
Article 126. Financial System
The financial system shall be organised in such a way as to guarantee that savings are formed, deposited and secure and that financial measures required for the country’s economic and social development are applied.
Article 128. Economic and Social Plan
● The purpose of the Economic and Social Plan is to guide economic and social development towards sustainable growth, to reduce regional imbalances and progressively to eliminate economic and social differences between cities and the countryside.
● The Economic and Social Plan shall be expressed financially in the State Budget.
● The draft Economic and Social Plan shall be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic, together with reports on the major global and sectoral options, including information to substantiate them
Article 136. Referenda (Part of it)
● A referendum shall be considered valid and binding only where at least half of the registered voters have voted in it.
Article 223. Categories of Courts (Part of it)
● There may be administrative courts, labour courts, fiscal courts, customs courts, admiralty courts, arbitration courts and community courts.
● The courts of justice shall have common jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters and shall exercise their jurisdiction over all areas not assigned to other jurisdictional orders.
● At first instance, there may be courts of special jurisdiction and specialized courts to adjudicate particular matters.
Article 289. Functioning of the Sovereign Public Offices
The declaration of a state of siege or a state of emergency must not affect the application of the Constitution in respect of the powers and the functioning of the sovereign public offices, or in respect of the rights and immunities of the respective office holders or members.
Article 290. Termination
● Upon the termination of a state of siege or of emergency, the President of the Republic shall address a message to the Assembly of the Republic, giving detailed information about the measures taken under it and a list of the names of all citizens affected.
● The termination of the state of siege or of emergency shall bring its effects to an end, but this shall not affect responsibility for unlawful acts committed by agents or persons who implemented it.
Facts of Mozambique's Constitution
Article 57. Non-Retroactivity
In the Republic of Mozambique laws may have retroactive effect only where this is to the benefit of citizens and other legal persons.
Article 60. Application of Criminal Law
● Nobody shall be condemned for an act that did not constitute a criminal offence at the time when it was committed.
● Criminal law may be applied retroactively only in favour of the accused.
Article 64. Preventive Imprisonment
● Preventive imprisonment shall be permitted only in cases provided for by the law, which shall determine the duration of such imprisonment.
● Citizens held in preventive imprisonment shall, within the period fixed by law, be brought before the judicial authorities who alone shall have the power to decide on the lawfulness and continuation of the imprisonment.
● Everyone deprived of their liberty shall be informed promptly and in a way that they understand of the reasons for their imprisonment or detention and of their rights.
● The judicial decision by which an imprisonment or detention is ordered or maintained shall be communicated at once to a relative or trusted acquaintance of the detainee, as indicated by the detainee.
Article 118. Traditional Authority
● The State shall recognise and esteem traditional authority that is legitimate according to the people and to customary law.
● The State shall define the relationship between
traditional authority and other institutions and the part that
traditional authority should play in the economic, social and cultural
affairs of the country, in accordance with the law.
