Date: 19/06/2003
Source: Department of Labour
Title: Mdladlana: Response to ILO committee report on Zimbabwe


STATEMENT BY MINISTER MMS MDLADLANA MINISTER OF LABOUR REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, "REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE APPLICATION OF STANDARDS", 19 June 2003

Chairperson, South Africa supports the sentiments raised in the statement read on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement by the representative from Malaysia. We note with great concern the conclusion reached by the Committee regardless of the immense efforts and plausible progress made by the Government of Zimbabwe in addressing issues raised last year.

It is indeed perplexing and bewildering, to say the least, that the outcome of deliberations of the Committee was in no way influenced by the convincing report on progress, given by Honourable Minister Moyo.

During the Committee's deliberations; a brief summary of what the Honourable Minister placed on the Committee's record may help amplify my point. According to the Minister, the following set of events took place:

1. The legislative issues had been adequately addressed by the Labour Law Amendments Act (No. 17), 2002, of which a copy had been sent to the office.

2. During the process leading to the compilation of the Bill, the draft was submitted to the Committee of Experts for examination with a view to receiving guidance and feedback.

3. The process included the involvement of organised labour and business with the technical assistance and expertise from the ILO Swiss project.

4. Special regulations, conforming with Article 2 of the Convention had been adopted to deal with the protection of workers organisations against acts of interference by employer organisations, and vice versa.

5. A new dispute settlement mechanism had been established to deal with compulsory arbitration in the context of collective bargaining. This was in response to concerns expressed by the Committee of Experts.

Mr President, we support the view that the Committee should have taken note of these legislative changes and allowed the Committee of Experts to examine these before arriving on the conclusion to prematurely place Zimbabwe in the special paragraph. It is our view that with this conclusion, the Committee may have inadvertently, unwittingly and insidiously been influenced by their understanding of the political dynamics in Zimbabwe which are not only complex but do not also fall within the terrain of the committee.

Those who are genuinely concerned about the political situation in Zimbabwe should take heart in the fact that African leaders in the region have given the task to normalise the situation to the Presidents of South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi. The intervention of these Excellencies is predicated on the premise that the problems of Zimbabwe will be solved by Zimbabweans themselves and the role of outsiders is to support the efforts of indigenous people of Zimbabwe.

We agree with the conclusion that the outstanding work already started by the ILO/Swiss project to deal with outstanding labour matters should be encouraged and supported until its logical conclusion. The placing of Zimbabwe on a special paragraph and the proposed contact mission seems ill conceived and premature at this stage.

I thank you

Issued by Department of Labour
19 June 2003