Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1990
ZAMBIA
For most of 1990 Zambia remained a constitutionally
prescribed one-party state. However, in December it
officially became a multiparty state. The clause in the
constitution allowing the existence of only one party, the
United National Independence Party (UNIP), was repealed, and
plans have been announced to hold multiparty competitive
elections by October 1991. President Kaunda exercises
predominant executive authority. He is advised by a Central
Committee of party leaders and governs through a cabinet and
parliament. All candidates for political office at any level
were required to be members of UNIP and were screened by its
Central Committee in advance. Under a State of Emergency
(SOE) in effect for the past 26 years, the President has broad
discretion to detain or restrict the movements of people, and
law enforcement personnel have extraordinary powers to detain
suspects and search homes.
An active movement to promote multiparty democracy and repeal
the State of Emergency sprang up during 1990. The Government
initially resisted any challenge to the single party system,
but in September, under increasing pressure. President Kaunda
agreed to take the necessary steps to legalize political
parties other than UNIP and to hold general elections in
1991. In June the deteriorating economic situation and an
increase of over 100 percent in the price of corn meal, the
staple of the Zambian diet, led to student demonstrations,
food riots, and looting in Lusaka and an attempted coup by a
low-ranking officer. In reacting to these events, police,
shopkeeper vigilante groups, and the army killed 27 people, in
some instances through the use of excessive force.
In response to the unrest. President Kaunda issued a July
pardon to all political prisoners. The pardon included all
those convicted of coup plotting or treason over the last 20
years and over 1,000 people arrested for involvement in the
riots, looting, and student demonstrations.
The Zambian Police, operating under the Ministry of Home
Affairs, have primary responsibility for maintaining law and
order. Divided into regular and paramilitary units, the
Police also supervise a volunteer vigilante force. The
Zambian Intelligence and Security Service is charged with
intelligence and counterespionage responsibilities, while the
armed services are used for internal security, especially at
checkpoints and roadblocks. Abuses can be and sometimes are
challenged in court and abusers found guilty are punished, but
the Government only infrequently takes the initiative to
investigate reports of abuses.
In 1990 Zambia began the first year of a structural adjustment
program monitored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
While the program is designed to lower inflation and boost
incomes over the longer term, its austerity measures have the
short-term effect of hitting the poorest hardest. Although
donors are supporting efforts to create a social safety net,
the poor are battered by rising prices, low incomes, and an
inadequate social welfare infrastructure.
The popular ferment for political and economic change resulted
in unprecedented parliamentary and public debate, passage of
the December legislation allowing multiple political parties,
and the potential for a much more open political system.
Nevertheless, abuses still occurred in the areas of torture
and other mistreatment of detainees, including excessively
long detentions, the use of State of Emergency provisions in
security cases, restrictions on freedom of speech, press,
assembly, association, and the right of citizens to change
their government, and discrimination against women.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
A vigilante antirobbery squad affiliated with the police was
widely believed to be responsible for the shooting deaths of
suspected criminals and the deaths of some victims of the
civil unrest in June. There were no government investigations
of these activities.
During food riots, looting, and student demonstrations in
June, which led to the closing of the University, at least 27
persons were killed, due to excessive use of force by the
police and the army to quell disturbances.
In November 1989, Ishmael Zimba, an alleged security agent of
the Malawi Government, died in police custody. He reportedly
had been tortured prior to his death. The authorities said a
judicial inquiry would be made, but there was no indication
this was ever carried out.
b. Disappearance
There were no known cases of government-inspired disappearance.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture, but there continued to be
credible reports that police and military personnel resorted
to excessive force when interrogating detainees or prisoners.
In August the chairman of the Law Association of Zambia urged
the Government to set up an independent tribunal to
investigate mysterious deaths of suspects in police cells and
prisons, but the Government had taken no action by the end of
the year.
There were credible reports that 8 of the 34 university
students arrested after June demonstrations were tortured
during questioning. However, following President Kaunda '
s
general amnesty for the students and others arrested during
the unrest, no student filed a formal complaint against the
authorities. People who are ill-treated by authorities can
and sometimes do appeal to the judicial system for redress
when they are aware of their rights.
In 1990 Zambian courts tried several cases charging police or
prison officers with mistreatment of prisoners. In June a
Livingstone High Court judge sentenced two officers to prison
for 3 years for a beating that caused the death of a suspect
in police custody. In another case, two soldiers were given
15-year jail terms for faking a road block and robbing
motorists. In general, there are more abuses involving police
than soldiers, and most incidents involved the use of firearms
on civilians.
Party militants, commonly called "vigilantes," are tasked with
assisting the police in combating crime, black marketeering
and smuggling. These units are frequently over zealous, and,
in February during the registration of party voters for ward
elections, there were many citizen complaints of harassment
and harsh treatment. One vigilante was fined for assault.
Conditions in Zambian prisons are harsh, with limited medical
facilities. In the past, foreigners imprisoned for brief
periods have reported substandard food, overcrowding, and the
absence of beds. These conditions have not changed and have
resulted in a number of deaths. In May, following the deaths
from tuberculosis of two suspects in custody, a Livingstone
High Court judge ordered a medical doctor to visit the central
prison to check inmates. In July a doctor confirmed that
tuberculosis, anemia, high blood pressure, and chest
infections were rampant in two prisons due to overcrowding,
low protein diets, lack of water, and poor sanitation.
According to press reports, a Member of Parliament visiting an
open air prison in Kabwe found prisoners nearly naked or
dressed in old sacks. An appeal was made to the Government to
provide additional funding to prisons. By year's end,
additional prisoners' uniforms had been issued, but available
funds for prison reform remained severely limited, and the
overall prison situation did not improve during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Various security laws provide broad powers of detention, and
in practice administrative detentions are widespread. In
regular criminal cases, a detainee must be charged and brought
before a magistrate within 24 hours. This deadline is
frequently missed due to police inefficiency or lack of
transportation to bring a suspect before a magistrate. A
January report by the Copperbelt Human Rights Committee of the
Law Association of Zambia criticized magistrates and judges
for failing to attend quickly to habeas corpus cases and bail
applications, and it stated that police consistently keep
suspects in cells for long periods before taking them to court.
The Preservation of Public Security Act (PSA) gives the
President broad discretion during a State of Emergency, in
effect since 1964, to detain or restrict the movements of
persons and to order that persons be arrested and detained for
indeterminate periods. Presidential detainees are entitled to
formal notification of the reasons for their detention within
14 days of arrest; publication of their detention in the
government gazette; access to counsel; frequent visitation by
family and colleagues; immediate right to petition the
detaining authority for release; and the right
to seek judicial review of the detention order by an
independent and impartial tribunal after 1 year. Although the
tribunals meet in public, their recommendations are secret.
The President is not legally bound to accept a tribunal's
recommendation of release if he still believes that the
detainee poses a threat to national security.
In practice, detainees have been released if the judicial
tribunal so recommended, but it is not known how commonly this
occurs. Some detainees have been held for years without
coming to trial. In March Prime Minister Malimba Masheke
advised Parliament that 684 people had been detained under the
Act between January 1975 and October 1989, of whom 72 had been
detained for more than 2 years without appearing in courts of
law. In 106 cases brought before courts of law, 51 were
convicted and 55 acquitted. Another 543 were released, and 4
died in prison of natural causes. The disposition of the
remaining 31 cases is unknown. President Kaunda ' s July pardon
of political prisoners included all of the students, looters,
and rioters accused of inciting or participating in the June
riots in Lusaka.
In 1990 five persons were detained under the PSA; their
detention was possibly related to Mozambique National
Resistance Movement (RENAMO) cross-border attacks inside
Zambia. Three detainees remained in prison for a 1989 attack
on Malawian dissidents in which Mkwapatira Mhango, an exiled
opposition leader, and nine other members of the Seime family
were killed.
The 26-year SOE gives law officers and defense personnel
extraordinary powers. Police officers of assistant inspector
rank and above may arrest without a warrant and detain a
person for up to 28 days if the officer has reason to believe
that grounds exist to justify a presidential detention order.
In theory, police must provide the detainee with reasons for
his detention within 14 days of arrest.
Calls for lifting the SOE increased in 1990. In July both
multiparty activists and Catholic bishops called for the
lifting of the SOE prior to holding a free and fair referendum
on whether to adopt a multiparty political system. The call
was repeated in an August report by a special select committee
of Parliament in its recommendations on ways to reform the
party and the Government. However, at the end of the year,
the Government maintained that threats to Zambia's security,
particularly cross-border attacks on civilians by RENAMO,
necessitated continuation of the SOE.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court with
appellate powers and a series of lower courts, of which the
High Court is the most important. Although presidential
detainees are not guaranteed public trial, such trials are
usually public in the few instances when they occur. In most
cases, presidential detainees are eventually released without
having been tried.
In ordinary cases, the law provides a number of protections
for defendants, including during the conduct of
interrogations. It provides for the right to legal
representation at one's own expense or through legal aid; the
right to give evidence under oath in criminal procedures; the
right to give an unsworn statement; and the right to remain
silent. In security cases, accused persons enjoy few of these
protections. The President has the power to appoint and
transfer judges, and some attorneys maintain that this fact
sways court decisions in cases in which the executive branch
has a particular interest. However, the Zambian judiciary has
demonstrated some independence. In December, for example, the
High Court ruled against the Government to affirm the
opposition's right to hold an organizing convention.
In a September 24 speech. President Kaunda announced Zambia's
intention to codify the separation of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches in a new constitution and
to create a new court to interpret the Constitution, but he
gave no timetable for doing so.
In July President Kaunda pardoned all political prisoners
convicted of attempting coups in 1970, 1980, 1988, and 1990.
Best known of the pardoned prisoners was Lt . Gen. Christian
Tembo, former commander of the army and ambassador to Bonn
who, with three other military officers, was charged in 1988
with coup plotting. Another beneficiary of the presidential
pardon was former High Court Commissioner Edward Shamwana,
arrested in 1980 for coup plotting.
f . Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
The inviolability of the home is provided for in law and is
generally respected, except in cases relating to the SOE or to
roundups of suspected illegal aliens and black marketeers. In
such cases, security forces have broad powers and often enter
the homes of suspects without search warrants.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
While still subject to restrictions, the freedoms of speech
and press were increasingly exercised in 1990. Direct
negative comments concerning the Head of State or the national
philosophy ("Humanism") still may not legally be expressed in
public, the Parliament, or the media. However, as a result of
popular pressure and the ensuing nationwide debate on
democratic pluralism, there was unprecedented criticism of the
one-party system of government and its leaders, including the
President. UNIP officials frequently responded to that
criticism with verbal threats against multiparty advocates.
In July, before the decision to cancel the referendum and
legalize the opposition parties, the President threatened to
"unleash UNIP" against multiparty advocates, whom he labeled
"power hungry, malcontents and drug users".
From June through September 24, multiparty advocates were
permitted to hold mass rallies and meetings under the
authority of a commission formed to regulate a referendum on
whether Zambia would become a multiparty state. When the
President announced on September 24 that a multiparty election
would be held without a referendum, the commission was
abolished and with it the right of opposition parties to
assemble, since under the Constitution, UNIP was still the
only legal political party. The section of the Constitution
outlawing other parties was rescinded in December. It is now
legal for the opposition to hold rallies and public meetings,
provided a police permit is obtained. Police permits are not
required when government officials hold similar campaign
meetings or rallies.
Parliament debates a wide range of political, economic, and
social issues. A special parliamentary select committee
recently presented the Government with a report on ways to
make the party more responsive to the people. Although
divergent opinions on most issues are allowed in Parliament,
UNIP leadership tried to exclude from their ranks Members of
Parliament who advocated a multiparty system. In November the
High Court issued a restraining order preventing the party
from ousting Members of Parliament who are multiparty
sympathizers.
Since the beginning of 1989, the two national dailies have
been owned by a public corporation, the National Media
Corporation, headed by an adviser to the President.
Television and radio are also state owned under the Zambia
National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). In spite of its
quasi-governmental ownership, the press generally carries a
substantial amount of commentary critical of party and
government performance. The print media have given
substantial coverage to both sides of the single-party versus
multiparty debate within the broad parameters of dissent
tolerated by the Government. However, under ZNBC, the
television and radio have been decidedly biased in favor of
the Government. Opposition groups complained that they were
unable to obtain air time to promote voter registration during
the referendum campaign. When they are permitted, mass
multiparty rallies in the capital and other cities receive
scant mention in ZNBC news programs, but paid political
announcements are aired.
In November President Kaunda responded to what he considered
excessive press criticism by threatening to issue new terms of
reference regulating what could be reported about opposition
statements and activities by the two daily newspapers
controlled by the party and the Government. Kaunda also
replaced both editors-in-chief. The papers continued to cover
opposition press releases and court challenges to the
Government. On December 17, President Kaunda publicly ordered
the two dailies to support the party and the Government and
oppose the opposition. The President has also ordered
government corporations to avoid advertising in the
church-owned Daily Mirror on the grounds that it prints lies.
Members of the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy
(MMD) have reported that government agents intimidated or
harassed private printers who accepted contracts to print the
MMD ' s newspaper The Multiparty News. The paper continued to
appear.
Academic freedom is respected in Zambian society, and
educators are outspoken in their opposition to political
influence on the educational system. However, university
teachers and researchers are subject to the same broad
restrictions on criticism of the President and his philosophy
that apply to other Zambians.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
With the exception of the brief period of the referendum
campaign, the police refused to issue permits for peaceful
multiparty rallies on the grounds that opposition rallies were
illegal until the Constitution was amended. The multiparty
movement tested the government ban on rallies by attempting to
hold an organizing convention in October. The police blocked
the meeting. Also in October, trade union leader and
multiparty advocate Fred Chiluba and eight others were
arrested for unlawful assembly and belonging to an illegal
society because they attempted to hold an MMD meeting in
Choma . The trial has been adjourned until early in 1991.
On December 17, President Kaunda signed a constitutional
amendment legalizing other parties in Zambia. As 1990 ended,
three new political parties had applied for registration.
c. Freedom of Religion
Freedom of religion is provided for in the Constitution and
respected in practice. Some religious organizations have
publicly taken a stand on the social and political issues of
the day. For example, the Catholic bishops issued a pastoral
statement in July regarding Zambia's economic problems and the
political debate in Zambia. Without directly supporting the
reintroduction of multiparty politics, the bishops questioned
the accountability of the single party to the population and
endorsed a referendum as a way of bringing the people back
into the political process.
Zambia has no state religion, and adherence to a particular
faith does not confer either advantage or disadvantage. The
Government has prohibited the Jehovah's Witnesses from
proselytizing. Nevertheless, they function openly, and their
freedom to refrain from participating in various secular
activities such as voting, singing the national anthem, and
saluting the flag has been upheld in the courts and supported
by senior party leaders. Christian missionaries from a wide
variety of faiths operate in the country. Lay associations
and religious youth groups operate independently of party
control or influence.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Police roadblocks are common, and vehicles are commonly
searched for illegal immigrants and evidence of stolen
vehicles, poaching, and other crimes. Such activity increased
in the wake of riots, looting, and the failed coup attempt in
Lusaka in June. In addition, a dusk to dawn curfew was in
effect for 4 weeks.
The Government withholds or withdraws passports to prevent
foreign travel by persons whose activities are considered i
inimical to Zambian interests. In a June press conference.
President Kaunda said that possession of a passport is a
privilege, not a right. He called several Zambians demanding
the return of their confiscated passports "drug dealers."
When Bishop John Mambo, national overseer of the Church of
God, took an early stand in favor of a multiparty system and
publicly criticized presidential advisers, he received death
threats, was deprived of his -citizenship, and was prohibited
from traveling to the United States.
While the majority of Zambians are subsistence farmers, about
47 percent of the people live in urban areas, and migration to
cities is increasing. In 1990 the President rescinded a 1989
announcement that unemployed urban Zambians would have until
June 30, 1990, to return voluntarily to work the land in rural
areas before being forcibly resettled.
Zambia hosts a large refugee and asylum seeker population,
particularly from Angola and Mozambique. The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there
are approximately 133,500 refugees and asylum-seekers in
Zambia. The largest groups of refugees are from Angola and
Mozambique, with others from Zaire, South Africa, and
Namibia. Those from Namibia are mainly students completing
their education before returning home.
Some former members of South African liberation groups have
been subjected to harassment by the organizations they left.
The Government has cooperated with the UNHCR, which has been
active in intervening to provide protection and resettlement
for them on a case-by-case basis. However, there are reliable
reports that the African National Congress has imprisoned
defectors and detainees. The Government routinely denies that
this problem exists.
In May Zambia received an influx of Zairian student refugees
fleeing security forces at the University of Lubumbashi.
Again the Government worked closely with the UNHCR to improve
security at the refugee camp given student fears of abduction
and forcible repatriation of the students by Zairian security
forces.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
At the close of 1990, Zambian citizens did not yet have the
ability to change their form of government. Under the
Constitution, UNIP was the sole, legal political party until
December 17. The Government initially resisted popular
agitation for economic and political change. However, in
September President Kaunda announced that Zambia would become
a multiparty state. In December the Parliament passed and the
President signed the constitutional amendment legalizing
opposition political parties. Multiparty presidential and
parliamentary elections are planned to be held before October
1991.
Power is still concentrated in the hands of the President as
leader of the ruling party and Head of State. He plays a
dominant role in determining the membership of Zambia's top
executive institutions, including the party Central Committee
and the Cabinet, which traditionally contain a general
regional and tribal balance. This is also the case with the
heads of the economically dominant state-owned corporations.
Candidates for political office at any level must be members
of the party and are subject to close examination by the
Central Committee. In practice, the political system has been
open to persons of somewhat divergent views provided they have
been willing to work within the one-party structure and not
challenge the President's preeminence.
Earlier in the year, the President had called for a
referendum on the merits of a multiparty political system (see
Section 2.a.). In October members of a constitutional
commission, appointed by the President, began hearings to
establish a system of political pluralism; the commission's
recommendations are due in early 1991. The two multiparty
advocates, who were appointed by the President to the
22-member commission, declined to participate on the grounds
that the commission was biased in favor of UNIP.
Theoretically, the National Assembly is equal to the President
in power and importance. However, following the October 1988
general election, the President moved to curb the independence
of the newly elected National Assembly. In a break with
tradition, members were sworn in by the President at the State
House instead of by the Speaker at the National Assembly
buildings, as had been the practice. At the ceremony, the
President stated that unwarranted criticism would not be
tolerated and stressed that the National Assembly's principal
purpose is to implement party policy through the drafting of
legislation. Despite these efforts, there was extensive
criticism of party and government policies in the Parliament
in 1990, and a special parliamentary select committee prepared
a report aimed at limiting some of the powers of the President
and the party, while enhancing the powers of the Parliament.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
The Government neither encourages nor hinders inquiries or
visits- by human rights organizations. However, the President
and the Prime Minister on several occasions rejected
multiparty advocates' calls for international observers to
monitor the referendum campaign and voting procedures. The
Zambian Law Association's Citizen Advice Bureau and the
African Bar Association seek to address grievances of a human
rights nature.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Language, or Social Status
The population of almost 8 million comprises more than 70
Bantu-speaking tribal groupings. Economic and social needs
are met on a generally nondiscriminatory basis.
By law, women are entitled to full equality with men. In
practice, while they participate increasingly in Zambia's
social, economic, and political life and are gaining
representation in the professions and higher education, they
remain in a subordinate position in many ways. Zambian women
are a major component of the rural work force. Customary law
and practice, in contradiction to Zambia's Constitution and
codified laws, place women in subordinate status with respect
to property, inheritance, and marriage.
Under traditional customs, all rights to inherit property
rested with the deceased man's family. The widow and her
children were entitled to nothing. The Intestate Succession
Act, passed in 1989, guarantees widows a 20-percent share and
children a 50-percent share in the inheritance of a deceased
man's property. Despite this legal provision, the
Investigator General declared in April that ignorance, apathy,
and fear render the provisions of this law ineffective.
According to the 1980 census, the percentage of literacy among
Zambians above the age of 15 is 75.4 percent for males and
53.1 percent for females. In employment, Zambian men and
women receive equal pay for equal work. However, there is no
legal redress for women who are refused employment on the
basis of their sex. Before July unmarried women and all men
had housing benefits that were denied in practice to married
women. In July the Government extended this right to married
women. However, shortly thereafter, this benefit was again
withdrawn from married women and is now a matter of dispute
between unions and the Government.
Divorce laws are applied to men and women equally. There are
no reliable statistics on the extent to which violence against
women, including wife beating, occurs. Domestic assault is a
criminal offense, but in practice police are often reluctant
to pursue reports of wife beating or other forms of abuse.
According to women's rights advocates, nondomestic violence
against women is not generally tolerated by traditional or
civil authorities. Victims usually report attacks, and legal
action is taken. In crimes against women where rape, serious
injury, or death occurs, men—including husbands—can receive
sentences up to, and including, the death penalty.'
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Zambia has a history of strong labor union organizations,
dating from the establishment of the copper mines during the
1930 's. Zambia's 18 large national unions, organized by
industry or profession (only one union per industry is legal),
are all members of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU),
the sole legal confederation under the Industrial Relations
Act. At year's end, the President was expected to sign the
new Industrial Relations Act of 1990. When it becomes law,
all unions will cease to be members of the ZCTU. All future
affiliations by existing unions or new unions to the ZCTU,
which under the new Act will remain the sole legal
confederation, must be made by a two-thirds majority vote of
union members.
The ZCTU is democratic and regularly conducts open elections
to select its leadership. It is not controlled by the party
or the Government, and union leaders frequently criticize
government policy on such subjects as wages, economic policy,
conditions of service, and labor representation in party and
government organs.
Since December 1989, the ZCTU has spoken in favor of the
reintroduction of multiparty politics, and some union leaders
are also leaders of the multiparty movement. The Secretary
General of UNIP and the Prime Minister publicly accused the
ZCTU of using workers' money to support reintroduction of the
multiparty system. The officials threatened to cancel the
automatic union dues deduction system in retaliation.
Multiparty-minded attorneys responded by calling for the
arrest of the two officials for harassment and intimidation of
their clients, a breach of referendum regulations. In
September President Kaunda announced plans to allow multiple
unions per industry and break up the monopoly of the ZCTU.
Deteriorating economic conditions and sharp increases in the
cost of living led to widespread labor unrest in 1990.
Throughout the year, teachers, bank workers, motor trade
workers, brewers, millers, and miners were among the groups
that mounted boycotts, "go-slows," and strikes. Under
existing legislation, strikes are permitted only after all
other recourse has been exhausted. In practice, virtually all
strikes are illegal, since they almost always commence before
the m.andatory process of mediation has run its course. The
Government normally has relied on persuasion and continued
mediation to end strikes once they have begun. Most strikes
have terminated with increased wage settlements and without
government action against the unions. The ZCTU is a member of
the Organization of African Trade Union Unity.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The ZCTU's right to organize and bargain collectively with
employers is codified under regulations in the Industrial
Relations Act (IRA). These rights are respected in practice.
The IRA provides a mechanism for initiating and settling
worker-employer disputes and establishes the Industrial
Relations Court. Union rights against management interference
or discrimination have been readily upheld by the Court.
In November, in the 1991 budget speech, the Minister of
Finance announced that customs free zones would be instituted
in Zambia in 1991. At the end of 1990, there was no
information available on how labor laws or rights to organize
and bargain collectively will apply to the zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Slavery, involuntary servitude, and forced labor are
prohibited by the Constitution. Generally, these prohibitions
are observed. However, committees of the International Labor
Organization (ILO) have noted for a number of years that
various legislative provisions are incompatible with ILO
Convention 105 on forced labor. The provisions in question
include those that impose imprisonment, involving forced
labor, for expressing certain political views or for engaging
in political activities outside UNIP as a means of labor
discipline or as a punishment for having participated in
strikes. In 1989 an ILO direct contacts mission to Zambia
took place to help it bring its legislation into conformity
with the Convention. Most of the legislative changes
recommended by the ILO were enacted in 1990.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The legal minimum age is 15. This and other age restrictions
apply to the industrial sector, where, because of adult
unemployment, there are few employees under age 15. The Labor
Commissioner effectively enforces the law in industry. There
is, however, little enforcement for the vast majority of
Zambians who work in the subsistence agricultural and domestic
service sectors, where persons under age 14 are often
employed. In May the Labor Commissioner confirmed that the
number of children working has grown since independence due to
Zambia's poor economic situation.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
In August the Government set the minimum monthly wage rate for
all employees except professionals at approximately $28. All
employees are also entitled to a housing allowance of not less
than 25 percent of the basic wage, about $2 per month lunch
allowance, and a $6 minimum transport allowance. However,
each industry can also set its own minimum wage rates above
the legal floor through collective bargaining. In industries
where collective bargaining is not effective, the Minister of
Labor and Social Services sets the minimum wage rate for
employees in positions such as delivery assistants, general
workers, and office orderlies. A minimum wage for sales
representatives is about $38.75 per month.
These "minimums" are insufficient to provide an adequate
standard of living. Most Zambian workers must supplement
their incomes through second jobs, some subsistence farming,
or reliance on the extended family. The normal workweek is 40
hours, but this is not a legal maximum. The legal maximum
workweek for nonunionized workers is 48 hours. The minimum
for full time employment is 40 hours. Maximum limits for
'unionized workers vary. For example, the legal maximum for
unionized guards is 72 hours per week. There are legal
requirements for annual leave (2 days per month of service)
and maternity leave (90 days). However, the Women's Rights
Committee has noted that this particular provision is flouted
by employers, including the Government, who either allow fewer
days of maternity leave or deduct it from annual accrued
leave. The Committee also noted that women tend to be
discriminated against regarding payment of the housing
allowance, with employers often illegally linking it to
women's marital status. Women are legally excluded from night
work and a variety of hazardous occupations.
Zambian law regulates minimum health and safety standards in
any industrial undertaking. In January the ZCTU expressed
concern over the Government's silence about the failure of
employers to observe industrial health regulations. The
Office of the Investigator General exists to redress the
excessive use or abuse of power by government officials
against their subordinates. This Office's effectiveness is
limited by understaf f ing, but it is not involved in enforcing
industrial safety. Mine safety is handled by the Department
of Mines; factory safety is handled by the Inspector of
Factories under the Minister of Labor. Staffing problems
chronically limit enforcement effectiveness.
