Mozambique 2004 Constitution (reviewed 2007) - Page 4 of 17

Table of Contents

TITLE IV. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, FINANCIAL AND FISCAL ORGANISATION

CHAPTER I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Article 96. Economic Policy

The State economic policy shall be directed towards laying the fundamental bases for development, improving the living conditions of the people, strengthening the sovereignty of the State, and consolidating national unity, through the participation of citizens and the efficient use of human and material resources.
Without prejudice to balanced development, the State shall guarantee the distribution of national wealth and it shall recognise and esteem the role of productive zones.

Article 97. Fundamental Principles

The economic and social order of the Republic of Mozambique shall aim to satisfy the basic needs of the people and to promote social wellbeing, and shall be based on the following fundamental principles:

on the value of labour;
on market forces;
on the initiatives of economic operators;
on the co-existence of the public sector, the private sector and the social and co-operative sector;
on public ownership of natural resources and means of production, in accordance with the collective interest;
on the protection of the co-operative and social sector;
on the action of the State as regulator and promoter of economic and social growth and development.

Article 98. State Property and Public Domain

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.
The public domain of the State shall comprise:
1. the maritime zone;
2. the airspace;
3. archaeological heritage;
4. nature conservation zones;
5. hydraulic resources;
6. energy resources;
7. roads and railways;
8. mineral deposits;
9. other property classified as such by law.
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 99. Sectors of Ownership of the Means of Production

The national economy shall guarantee the coexistence of three sectors of ownership of the means of production.
The public sector consists of those means of production the ownership and management of which belong to the State or other public entities.
The private sector consists of those means of production the ownership and management of which belong to private individual or corporate persons, without prejudice to the following paragraph.
The co-operative and social sector comprises, specifically:
1. community means of production, held and managed by local communities;
2. means of production exploited collectively by workers;
3. means of production held and managed by not-for-profit corporate persons whose main objective is social solidarity, specifically those of a mutual nature.

Article 100. Taxes

Taxes shall be established and modified by law, and shall be set according to criteria of social justice.

CHAPTER II. ECONOMIC ORGANISATION

Article 101. Co-ordination of Economic Activity

The State shall promote, co-ordinate and supervise economic activity, acting directly or indirectly to resolve the basic problems of the people and to reduce social and regional inequalities.
State investment shall play a driving role in promoting balanced development.

Article 102. Natural Resources

The State shall promote knowledge, survey and valorisation of natural resources, and shall determine the conditions under which they may be used and developed subject to national interests.

Article 103. Agriculture

In the Republic of Mozambique, agriculture shall be the basis for national development.
The State shall guarantee and promote rural development in order to meet the growing and diverse needs of the people, and for the economic and social progress of the country.

Article 104. Industry

In the Republic of Mozambique, industry shall be the driving force for the national economy.

Article 105. Family Sector

The family sector shall play a fundamental role in meeting the basic needs of the people.
The State shall support and provide incentives for family sector production, and shall encourage peasants as well as individual workers to organize themselves into more advanced forms of production.

Article 106. Small Scale Production

The State shall recognise the contribution made by small scale production to the national economy, and shall support its development as a way of making good use of the capacity and the creativity of the people.

Article 107. National Business Sector

The State shall promote and support the active participation of the national business sector in the development and consolidation of the country’s economy.
The State shall create incentives to provide for the growth of the national business sector throughout the country, particularly in rural zones.

Article 108. Foreign Investment

The State shall guarantee foreign investment, which shall operate within the framework of State economic policy.
Foreign ventures shall be permitted in all of the national territory and in all economic sectors, except those that are reserved exclusively for ownership or development by the State.

Article 109. Land

All ownership of land shall vest in the State.
Land may not be sold or otherwise disposed of, nor may it be mortgaged or subject to attachment.
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

The State shall determine the conditions under which land may be used and enjoyed.
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.

CHAPTER III. SOCIAL ORGANISATION

Article 112. Labour

Labour is the driving force of development and shall merit respect and protection.
The State shall promote the fair distribution of the proceeds of labour.
The State maintains that everyone should receive equal pay for equal work.

Article 113. Education

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.
The State shall organise and develop education through a national system of education.
Public education shall not pertain to any religion.
Education provided by collective and other private entities shall be administered in accordance with the law and shall be subject to State control.
The State shall not plan education and culture in accordance with any specific philosophical, aesthetic, political, ideological or religious guidelines.

Article 114. Higher Education

Access to public institutions of higher education shall guarantee equal and equitable opportunities and the democratisation of education, taking into account the requirements in terms of qualified staff and the raising of educational and scientific standards of the country.
Public institutions of higher education shall be corporate persons governed by public law, and they shall have legal personality and enjoy scientific, teaching, financial and administrative autonomy, without prejudice to the appropriate evaluation of teaching standards, in accordance with the law.
The State shall recognise and supervise private and co-operative education in accordance with the law.

Article 115. Culture

The State shall promote the development of national culture and identity and shall guarantee free expression of the traditions and values of Mozambican society.
The State shall promote the dissemination of Mozambican culture and shall take action to enable the Mozambican people to benefit from the cultural achievements of other peoples.

Article 116. Health

Medical and health care for citizens shall be organised through a national health system, which shall benefit all Mozambican people.
To achieve the goals of the national health system, the law shall establish the ways in which medical and health care is delivered.
The State shall encourage citizens and institutions to participate in raising the standard of health in the community.
The State shall promote the expansion of medical and health care and the equal access of all citizens to the enjoyment of this right.
The State shall be responsible for promoting, supervising and controlling the production, the sale and the use of chemical, biological and pharmaceutical products and other forms of treatment and diagnosis.
The medical and health care activities run by collective and private entities shall be carried out in accordance with the law and be subject to the supervision of the State.

Article 117. Environment and Quality of Life

The State shall promote efforts to guarantee the ecological balance and the conservation and preservation of the environment, with a view to improving the quality of life of its citizens.
With a view to guaranteeing the right to the environment within the framework of sustainable development, the State shall adopt policies aimed at:
1. preventing and controlling pollution and erosion;
2. integrating environmental objectives with sectoral policies;
3. promoting the integration of environmental values into educational policies and programmes;
4. guaranteeing the rational utilisation of natural resources and the safeguarding of their capacity to regenerate, ecological stability and the rights of future generations;
5. promoting territorial ordinance with a view to ensuring the correct location of activities, and balanced socio-economic development.

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.

Article 119. Family

The family is the fundamental unit and the basis of society.
The State shall, in accordance with the law, recognise and protect marriage as the institution that secures the pursuit of family objectives.
In the context of the development of social relations based on respect for human dignity, the State shall guarantee the principle that marriage is based on free consent.
The law shall establish forms in which traditional and religious marriage shall be esteemed, and determine the registration requirements and effects of such marriage.

Article 120. Motherhood and Fatherhood

Motherhood and fatherhood shall be afforded dignity and protection.
The family shall be responsible for raising children in a harmonious manner, and shall teach the new generations moral, ethical and social values.
The family and the State shall ensure the education of children, bringing them up in the values of national unity, love for the motherland, equality among men and women, respect and social solidarity.
Fathers and mothers shall support children born out of wedlock and those born in wedlock.

Article 121. Childhood

All children have the right to protection from the family, from society and from the State, having in mind their full development.
Children, in particular orphans and disabled and abandoned children, shall be protected by the family, by society and by the State against all forms of discrimination, ill treatment and the abusive use of authority within the family and in other institutions.
Children shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of their birth, nor shall they be subjected to ill treatment.
Child labour shall be prohibited, whether the children are of compulsory school going age or any other age.

Article 122. Women

The State shall promote, support and value the development of women, and shall encourage their growing role in society, in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life of the country.
The State shall recognise and hold in high esteem the participation of women in the national liberation struggle and in the defence of sovereignty and democracy.

Article 123. Youth

Young people, honourably upholding the patriotic traditions of the Mozambican people, played a decisive role in the national liberation struggle and the struggle for democracy, and they constitute a force for the renewal of society.
State policy shall be directed particularly towards ensuring the harmonious development of the character of young people, to helping them acquire a taste for free and creative work, to developing their sense of serving the community, and to providing appropriate conditions for their entering into active life.
The State shall promote, support and encourage young people’s initiatives in consolidating national unity, and in the reconstruction, the development and the defence of the country.
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 124. Elderly

The elderly shall have the right to special protection by their family, society and the State, particularly through the creation of housing conditions, by living in togetherness with the family and the community, and by being received at public and private institutions, thereby preventing them from becoming marginalized.
The State shall promote a policy for the elderly that integrates economic, social and cultural action, with a view to creating opportunities for personal achievement through their involvement in the life of the community.

Article 125. Disabled

The disabled shall have a right to special protection by the family, the society and the State.
The State shall promote the creation of conditions for learning and developing sign language.
The State shall promote the creation of conditions necessary for the economic and social integration of the disabled.
The State shall promote, in co-operation with associations of the disabled and with private entities, a policy that will guarantee:
1. the rehabilitation and integration of the disabled;
2. the creation of appropriate conditions to prevent them from becoming socially isolated and marginalized;
3. priority treatment of disabled citizens by public and private services;
4. easy access to public places.
The State shall encourage the establishment of associations of the disabled.

CHAPTER VI. FINANCIAL AND TAX SYSTEM

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 127. Tax System

The tax system shall be structured in order to meet the financial needs of the State and other public bodies, achieve the objectives of the State’s economic policy, and guarantee the fair distribution of income and wealth.
Taxes shall be established and modified by law, which shall stipulate tax incidence and tax rates, and fiscal benefits and guarantees afforded to taxpayers.
Nobody may be compelled to pay taxes that have not been established in accordance with the Constitution, and which are not assessed and collected in terms of the law.
During the course of the same financial year, the bases of tax incidence and tax rates may not be increased.
Tax law shall not have retroactive effect, except where this would be more favourable to the taxpayer.

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 129. Drafting and Execution of the Economic and Social Plan

The Government shall draft the Economic and Social Plan on the basis of its five-year programme.
The draft Economic and Social Plan shall be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic and shall contain a forecast of the macroeconomic aggregates and the actions to be taken in pursuit of the sectoral development goals, and it shall be accompanied by implementation reports to substantiate it.
The drafting and implementation of the Economic and Social Plan shall be decentralised by province and by sector.

Article 130. State Budget

The budget shall be unitary, shall specify revenue and expenditure, and shall at all times respect the rules on annual publication and on publicity, in accordance with the law.
The budget may comprise multi-annual programmes or projects, in which case the budget shall present the expenditure in respect of the particular year to which it refers.
The State Budget bill shall be drafted by the Government and presented to the Assembly of the Republic, and it shall contain information to substantiate revenue forecasts, limits on expenditure, deficit financing, as well as all information to substantiate budgetary policy.
The law shall determine the rules for implementation of the budget, and shall establish the criteria according to which the budget may be modified, the implementation period, as well as the procedures to be followed when the deadlines for presentation of the budget or voting on it cannot be met.

Article 131. Supervision

The Administrative Court and the Assembly of the Republic shall supervise the implementation of the State Budget, and the Assembly of the Republic shall appraise and decide on the General State Account after it has received the opinion of the Administrative Court.

Article 132. Central Bank

The Bank of Mozambique is the Central Bank of the Republic of Mozambique.
The operation of the Bank of Mozambique shall be governed by specific legislation and by international norms that bind the Republic of Mozambique and apply to it.