Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1992

ZAMBIA
 
 
 
President Frederick Chiluba's victory over Kenneth Kaunda in the multiparty
election of October 1991 ended the long era of one-party politics in Zambia. The new
President and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) dominated the political
scene in 1992, including in Parliament, where the MMD holds 125 out of 150
seats. In addition to the MMD and the former sole party, the United National Independence
Party (UNIP), a number of small parties operated freely throughout the
year and participated in the local elections. Although voter turnout was very low,
these elections were free and fair and resulted in the MMD winning 80 percent of
1,190 local government councillor seats. The Constitution of Zambia's Third Republic,
negotiated in the twili^t of the Kaunda regime, provides for a strong presidency
and for extensive human and civil rights, including the right to the full protection
of the law and freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and political choice.
The Zambian police, divided into regular and paramilitary units and operating
under the Ministry of Home Affairs, nave primary responsibility for maintaining
law and order. The volunteer vigilante force, which was under police supervision
and was widely viewed as an arm of UNIP, the former ruling party, was disbanded.
The police often ignore procedural requirements and engage in abusive and brutal
behavior, including beating and at times killing criminal suspects and detainees.
However, victims occasionally seek redress throu^ the courts, and abusers found
guilty are punished. Zambia's total military expenditures for 1989, the last year for
which the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency conducted a detailed analysis,
were $65 million. The Government has undertaken public discussions on reducing
military spending, but it has not yet implemented any plan to do so.
The Zambian economy has declined steadily for over a aec^ade. President Chiluba
has committed his Government to free-market policies, but agricultural reforms implemented
during 1992 failed to produce all of the expected benefits because of the
massive Southern African drought. The price of maize, a basic food commodity, has
risen 900 percent in nominal terms since the Government removed controls to stimulate
proouction. Inflation remained high in 1992, on the order of the previous
year's 118 percent, due principally to rising commodity prices and large salary increases
for the military and civil service, 'ftie copper industry, which is critical to
the economy, remained under the control of a state-owned mining conglomerate
(ZCCM) but improved its production markedly during the year.
Following the historic gains of 1991, most fundamental human rights were respected
in law and in practice in 1992. Public discussion of issues involving police
excesses, corruption, and political change typified the public discourse. While the
press still practiced self-censorship, the media was active in the political dialog and
{)rovided broad coverage of the local elections in November. The Government pubicly
acknowledged that the judicial and prison systems needed urgent policy and
resource attention, but there was little indication of reform action by the end of the
year. In 1992 police brutality remained the most serious human rights problem.
 
 
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
 
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from
 
      a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing.
^There were no known political
killings during the year. Seven UNIP members accused of killing four MMD officials
during the 1991 election campaign were on trial in the Ndola High Court at year's
end.
Extrajudicial killings by regular and paramilitary police remained a serious problem
during 1992. According to reports in the Zambian press, 23 persons were killed
by police under various circumstances between April 1 and September 30. During
the same period 3 persons died while in police custody. According to police, in most
cases suspects are shot during the conunission of a crime or while allegedly fleeing
a crime scene. Such incidents appear to be investigated rarely, but in some instances
police are arrested and tried, as in the cases of a paramilitary officer who
shot a 19-year-old street vendor to death during a demonstration in July and a police
officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old student in September. Also, in September
police opened fire on a crowd of students gathered in front of the Lusaka Mag302
istrate Court, killing one person. Eight policemen were detained for questioning in
connection with this killing, but all were subsequently released (see Section 2.b.).
Reacting to a wave of violent crime throughout the country. Home Affairs Minister
Newstead Zimba instructed police on August 19 to shoot criminals on sight.
This statement was immediately condemned oy the Law Association of Zambia
(LAZ) and disavowed by Attorney General AH Hamir, who stressed that police must
only resort to the use of firearms in extraordinary cases to protect their own lives.
 
      b. Disappearance.
There were no known cases of government-inspired disappearance.
 
 
      c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The 1991 Constitution prohibits torture. Nevertheless, members of the police and
security forces regularly use excessive force when apprehending, interrogating, and
holding criminal suspects or illegal aliens. The press highlighted a number oi such
occurrences, including the case of a former Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation
(ZNBC) announcer, who is suing police for false imprisonment and alleges that
oflicers beat him repeatedly during 3 aays in detention. The press also reported that
a Lusaka trader suspected of illegal currency dealing was wnipped with an electric
cable while in police custody and that a man charged with robbery reported in the
Ndola Hi^ Court that he had been forced to confess in exchange for medical treatment
for injuries he had received in police custody. An April 27 letter to the Zambia
Daily Mail alleged that police had arbitrarily "rounded up" 20 to 30 people, beating
those who resisted and extorting fines for 'loitering." Inaependent sources reported
similar examples of police brutality, including the rape oi a 12-year-old ^rl while
in police custody. Threats of force were also common practice in police investigations.
Judges sometimes allow forced or pressured statements or confessions in legal
proceedings, but a clear legal precedent has yet to be established.
The problem of police orutality came under increasing public scrutiny during
1992. Victims of police brutality may and do sue the Government for redress, and
judgments in favor of plaintiffs do occur. In June Attorney General Hamir acknowledged
publicly that the beating of suspects by police was widespread. He said that
the Government had dispatched lawyers to the Lilayi Police Training School to lecture
policemen on human rights and procedural requirements. As the year ended,
however, cruel treatment by police continued to be a problem, and most violations
continued to go unpublicized and the violators unpunished.
Conditions in Zambian prisons are harsh and life threatening. Tuberculosis, anemia,
and chest infections are rampant due to low protein diets, lack of clean water,
substandard food, severe overcrowding, and poor sanitation and medical facilities.
According to a press report, 17 prisoners died at Kamfinsa Prison, near Kitwe, in
a 2-montn period. The victims had succumbed to a variety of diseases, including
cholera, dysentery, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and malaria. In May Home Affairs
Deputy Minister Chanda Sosala admitted that conditions in Zambia's prisons were
appalling, and a Sunday Times article, citing prison sources, said that jails designed
to hold 3,000 inmates now hold over 18,000. In September a Prisons Headquarters
public relations ofiicial said that to relieve overcrowding inmates serving short sentences
would be transferred to "open air" prisons in the countryside. However, conditions
at these lightly guarded prisons, wnere inmates are sometimes employed in
farming, are reported to be poor. Vice President Levy Mwanawasa on two occasions
underscored the Government's commitment to improve prison conditions, but by
year's end no new funds had been allocated.
In previous years, the African National Congress (ANC) maintained detention
camps in various countries, including Zambia, with the permission of host governments.
At these camps, ANC security personnel tortured, mistreated, and in some
cases extrajudicially executed ANC-defector detainees and alleged South African
government spies. Keports issued in 1992 by the ANC commission of inquiry and
Amnesty International document extensive pnysical abuse by the ANC's security department
while the organization's headquarters were in Zambia, near Lusaka. The
ANC maintains that all detention camps outside South Africa have been closed.
Thus far there has not been a free and mdependent inspection of ANC camps. Further,
there is no evidence that those responsible for these abuses have been held
accountable.
The Zambian authorities detained a South African national, Katiza Cebekhulu, in
1991 at Lusaka Central Prison. Reportedly, he had been accused of murder and kidnaping
in the trial of Winnie Mandela and others in South Africa. He claimed that
he had been taken from South Africa by members of the ANC to prevent him from
testifying in the trial. Cebekhulu remains in protective custody in Zambia, which
has been unsuccessful in finding another country willing to grant him refuge.
 
      d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Following the July 1990 release of political
prisoners and detainees, no political detentions or imprisonments have occurred.
President Chiluba has vowed that no one will be detained for political reasons during
his term of oflice.
various security laws provide broad powers of detention, and in practice administrative
detentions are widespread. Foreigners, principally from neighboring countries,
are regularlv apprehended as illegal aliens and detained until mey can be deported.
At times these detentions last months or years.
In regular criminal cases, a detainee must be chained and brought before a magistrate
within 24 hours, but there are delays at eadi step of the process, and deadlines
are frequentW missed due to police inefliciency or lack of transportation to
bring a suspect before a magistrate. The transport shortage is particularly acute in
Copperbelt Province, accordmg to the LAZ. Magistrates there regularly criticize the
police for failing to bring suspects to court on schedule, but no legal action was
taken against the police in 1992. Further, according to LAZ, police hold suspects on
extremely flimsy evidence for extended periods on grounds tnat an investigation of
the crime is continuing.
Street children charged with 'loitering" or disorderly conduct often find themselves
detained with unruly adults and, unable to raise bail or pay fines, are frequently
held for a week or more.
e. Denial of Fair Public Tried.—The judicial system consists of the Supreme
Court, with appellate powers, and a series of lower courts, of which the Hi^ Court
is the most important. In ordinary criminal cases, the law provides a number of protections
for defendants, including protection during interrogations. Members of the
legal community maintain that if a lawyer can be obtainecC defendants can expect
to receive a fair trial. However, many defendants are either too poor to retain a lawyer
or unaware of the few nongovernmental citizen advocacy groups that might help
them. The Government's Legal Aid Department is severely understaffed, and
Zambians entitled to legal aid often appeared in court during the year only to find
themselves without representation. This resulted in numerous court adjournments,
prolonging the time suspects remain in custody until their cases are heard.
Delayea processing of appeals has also continued to plague the judicial process.
In one case in 1992, two men who won an appeal against an aggravated robbery
conviction were released from custody but only after having spent 12 years in prison
before their appeal was heard. In another case, a prisoner under a death sentence
has been waiting since 1984 for the Supreme Court to hear his appeal.
Thus far, the MMD Government has respected judicial independence.
 
      f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
Respect
for privacy and the inviolability of the home is provided for in the Constitution and
is generally respected in practice. Exceptions continue to be police round-ups of susgected
illegal aliens and black marketeers. On two occasions during the year, former
resident Kaunda was the target of what government critics labeled as harassment,
but which the Government defended as legitimate law enforcement exercises. In
March police searched a warehouse where Kaunda's books were stored, purportedly
seeking government property unlawfiiUy removed from State House during
Kaunda's tenure aspresident. The search produced only five books of questionable
ownership, and UNIP parliamentarians argued that the search warrant used by the
Eolice was not valid. In June police conducted an early morning seardi oi the
usaka homes of Kaunda's two sons, purportedly looking for weapons. None was
found. The chairman of LAZ, Isaac Chali, publicly criticized the 4 a.m. search as
smacking of intimidation.
 
 
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
 
      a. Freedom of Speech and Press
For the first time in 27 years there exists a debate,
much of it in the public arena, on the role of the media in Zambian society.
But despite liberalization of former restrictive practices, regulations that limit press
freedom stiU exist. For example, all working journalists must be accredited through
tha Zambia Information Services rather than the publication they represent, "me
Government has also retained l^slation restricting freedom of speedi and press,
including the President's power to ban any publication, which Pl^sident Chiluba
used in November to overrule his Legal Affairs Minister and declare that no pomographic
publication would be printed in Zambia.
Tne two government-owned dailies regularly run editorials and articles critical of
the Government, and the government-owned broadcast media produce news stories
and current affairs programs with reasonably balanced viewpoints, reflecting the
Government's commitment to a hands-o£f editorial policy. Despite these positive developments,
editors and reporters continued to practice self-censorship, and the
media took its cue on which issues to cover from government pronouncements.
Moreover, media criticism was selectively directed at certain ministers, notably
those who were formerly in the UNIP government. As in the past, the newspapers
avoided criticizing the President on any poHcy he personally endorsed.
This cautious approach by the oflicial media was due in part to residual attitudes
from the past, when the press was more tightly controlled by the Government, to
continuing legal restrictions, and to the Government's coolness towards the independent
press. Of the several independent newspapers launched in 1991, only two,
both weeklies, remained at year's end. (The disappearance of the others was due to
economic factors.) Althou^ the Government has publicly committed itself to removing
legal barriers to the establishment of independent newspapers and broadcasting
stations, government oflicials reiused to talk with the independent press and regularly
excluded the two independent weeklies from invitations to press events. A political
columnist for one of the independent weeklies was detained by the police for
questioning after he wrote a satirical column about President ChUuba. The reporter
was criticized in public by several ministers and warned in the government-owned
newspapers that criticizing the President is still a crime."
In an example of self-censorship, the media did not cover the sit-down strike by
28 journalists at the Zambia National Broadcasting Coiporation (ZNBC). The journalists
were suspended after protesting a managerial appointment at the station.
They were not reinstated untU they apologized and accepted the appointment in
writing. Although the story was seen as newsworthy by a number of journalists
from ml media, it was never reported because of the fear of reprisals.
In 1992 the Government's hand was also seen in personnel decisions at the ZNBC.
Of the three newsreaders who supported UNIP before the 1991 elections, two have
been shifted to covering minor cultural programming since January.
Academic freedom is respected in Zambian society, and educators are outspoken
in their opposition to political influence on the educational system. The University
of Zambia Lusaka campus, closed by President Kaunda in 1991, reopened early in
1992. While there was no reported government interference in university affairs, the
academic year was severely disrupted by a variety of protests (see below), job actions,
and boycotts by both students and teachers, principally over salaries and stipends.
 
      b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Freedom of peaceful assembly
and association are provided for in the Constitution and were generally respected
by the Government during 1992. Under the Public Order Act of 1955, persons or
organizations wishing to hold an assembly, public meeting, or procession must first
apply for a permit. Government use of the Public Order Act to regulate demonstrations
and protests generated considerable controversy during the year. In Februairy,
32 University of Zambia students were arrested for allegedly participating in an unlawful
procession. The students eventually pleaded guUty to the charge, but were
later released by a Lusaka magistrate. In March students attending Evelyn Hone
College were refused a permit to conduct a march to the Vice President's office to
highlight campus grievances. The students elected to proceed with the march, and
eight were arrested and charged with "riotous behavior." In September the University
of Zambia Student Union (UNZASU) appUed for and was granted a permit to
conduct a rally in downtown Lusaka. Police subsequently withdrew the permit, however,
announcing that the official who had granted it did not have the requisite authority.
UNZASU elected to proceed with the rally, and some 140 students were arrested
by police.
The leading opposition party, UNIP, alleged throughout the year that it was a victim
of harassment by government and MMD officials. The party was unable to hold
its national congress at its traditional site in Kabwe because the Government demanded
rental payments, and the party had to hold the congress at an isolated farm
outside of Lusaka. In addition, government officials have threatened punitive actions
against UNIP supporters. While addressing an MMD rally in May, for example,
Minister of Local (lovemment and Housing Michael Sata tKreatened to evict all
UNIP members from their market stalls and revoke their trading licenses. At about
the same time, the Deputy Minister of Copperbelt province issued an order—never
implemented—banning UNIP from obtaining permits to hold public meetings in the
province.
 
      c. Freedom of Religion
Freedom of religion is provided for in the Constitution
and is generally respected in practice. Although President ChUuba in December
1991 aroused controversy when ne declared at a State House ceremony that Zambia
was a Christian nation, the Government took no action on the issue. The Jehovah's
Witnesses are prohibited by law from proselytizing, but they functioned openly during
1992, and their freedom to refrain from participating in various secular activities
such as voting, singing the national anthem, and saluting the flag was respected.
 
 
      d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Constitution guarantees citizens the right to move freely throu^-
out Zambia, to reside in any part of the country, and to depart from and return to
the country without restriction. After its October 1991 election victory the MMD
Government abolished police road blocks. They were reintroduced in 1992, however,
as a measure to combat increasing criminal activity. As in the past, some police
manning the road blocks abused their authority by extorting money from motorists
or stealing goods.
On November 26, 1991, the Supreme Court ruled that a passport is not a privilege
but a right to which eveiy Zambian citizen is entitled. In January 1992, a Lusaka
High Court judge ordered the Director of FHiblic Prosecutions to return the passport
of the former governor of the Bank of Zambia, which had been confiscated the previous
year when the governor was charged with corruption. In March the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Ailairs threatened to press for the seizure of former President
Kaunda's passport in retaliation for Kaunda's personal involvement in international
affairs. The passport was not confiscated, however.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that
there were approximately 140,000 refugees in Zambia in 1992, the majority Angolans,
Mozambicans, Zairians, and South Africans. The repatriation of Angolans finally
started in the summer of 1992, but only 1,291 refugees were flown home because
of questions about the safety at transit centers inside Angola. Later in the
year, renewed fighting and uncertainty in the wake of the disputed Angolan presidential
election resulted in a halt to repatriation. The number of South Mrican refiigees
has declined considerably since repatriation began in 1991, and UNHCR estimates
there are only about 800 still living in Zambia.
In 1992 there were increased efforts to round op and deport illegal aliens. Police
sweeps netted hundreds of persons, principally West Africans and Zairians, who
were arrested and deported, usually without screening by UNHCR. In January the
UNHCR Resident Commissioner protested the detention of refugees who were under
UNHCR care and protection. Various refugees have been detained, including five
who were held early in the year for 3 weeks despite being in possession of UNHCR
permits.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
With the introduction of a multiparty system in 1990, the adoption of a new Constitution
in 1991, and the defeat of the long-ruling UNIP party by the MMD in free
and fair elections in October 1991, Zambians in 1992 enjoyed the right and ability
peacefully to change their government. Under the Constitution the President wieldb
broad authority, but Parliament ratifies major appointments and must approve the
establishment of government ministries or departments. Despite its constitutional
powers, Parlisunent during 1992 passed few laws and remained generally subservient
to the Executive. There was an important exception in June when Parliament
passed a bill authorizing the privatization of state-owned companies and setting up
an agency to run the program.
The ruling MMD controls the executive branch and 125 of 150 seats in Parliament.
President Chiluba affirmed his administration is committed to a durable
multiparty democracy. Numerous opposition political parties, although extremely
small and weak in comparison with the ruling MMD, operated freely throughout the
year in nreparation for often delayed elections to select local government councils.
Held on November 30, the elections involved universal adult sunrage and secret-ballot
voting procedures. In generally free and fair elections, the MMD swept most
areas of the country while winning 80 percent of the 1,190 councillor seats. Voter
turnout, however, averaged only 5 to 10 percent of those registered. Of the opposition
parties, UNIP and tne United Democratic Party (UDP) won seats. In addition,
22 candidates running as independents were elected.
Government and opposition leaders, including President Chiluba, have encouraged
women to become involved in the political process. In April, however, Chiluba sharply
criticized demands by the Women's Lobby Group for a greater role for women in
the Government and for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights. At
year's end there were four women in President ChUuba's Cabinet-none Minister and
three Deputy Ministers. Of the 150 elected Members of Parliament, 7 are women,
and about 50 of the 1,190 local government councillors are women.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation
ofAlleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of human ri^ts and civic organizations operate without hindrance.
These include the LAZ; the Women's Lobby Group, which seeks to safeguard the
legal and societal rights of women; and the Foundation for Democratic Process
(FODEP), the successor to the Zambia Elections Monitoring Coordinating Committee.
In late 1992, FODEP organized a nationwide campaign to monitor the November
30 local government elections. In July the LAZ established a special committee,
chaired by Supreme Court justice Ernest Sakala, with a mandate to examine judicial
procedures in order to recommend ways to reduce delays in rendering judgments.
The Government is receptive to inquiries or visits by international human
rights organizations.
Section 5. Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
The Zambian population of about 8 million comprises more than 70 Bantu-speaking
tribal groupings. Economic and social needs are met on a generally nondiscriminatory
basis. The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, tribe, sex,
place of origin, marital status, political opinion, color, or creed. Members of the
Asian conmiunity, which includes many snopowners, have complained of harassment
by government oflicials and of hostility from other Zambians.Under civil and
constitutional law, women are entitled to full equality with men in most areas. In
practice, Zambian women remain subordinate to men in many ways. Government
statistics show that women are severely disadvantaged compared to men in formal
employment and education. According to a leading women's right advocate, women
who are single or pregnant experience particular <£f(iculty in obtaining employment.
Married women who are employed often suffer from discriminatory conditions of
service; allowances for housing and children and tax rebates to which they as employees
are entitled often accrue to their husbands. Similarly, women have little
independent access to credit facilities; in most cases they remain dependent on husbands,
who are required to sign for loans. As a result, few women own their own
homes.
In March a member of the Women's Lobby Group filed suit in Lusaka High Court
against a major hotel that refused to allow her entry to the hotel bar because she
was unaccompanied by a man. The Women's Lobby Group asserted that the hotel
policy violated constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of movement and protection
from discrimination. A decision had not been rendered by year's end.
Customary law and practice also place women in subordinate status with respect
to property, inheritance, and marriage despite various constitutional and legislated
provisions. Under traditional customs, all rights to inherit property rested with the
deceased man's family. 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, ignorance, apathy, and fear
render the enforcement of the law generally ineffective. Most divorced women remain
unaware that under the maintenance law, ex-husbands can be compelled by
magistrate's courts to provide for their families.
Tliere are no reliable statistics on the extent of violence against women, including
wife beating. Domestic assault is a criminal offense, but in practice police are often
reluctant to pursue reports of wife beating or other forms of abuse. In addition,
women are often ignorant of their ridits, and there is substantial societal pressure
on women not to prosecute cases of domestic violence. In June Attorney General
Hamir publicly condemned husbands who assault their wives and ui^ed women to
seek assistance from the LAZ, which has a section handling cases of domestic violence.
In February the police oflicer-in-charge at the University Teaching Hospital
in Lusaka reported that cases of rape in the capital had increased dramatically. According
to the officer, mtmy of the victims are under the age of 15. The law provides
that, in crimes against women where rape, serious injury, or death occurs, men
including husbands—may 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 in the 1930's. Approximately
60 percent of Zambia's 300,000 formal sector workers are unionized. The
country's 19 large national unions are organized by industry or profession. Until the
passage in January 1991 of the amended Industrial Relations Act (IRA), only one
union per industry was legal and all unions were members of the Zambia Congress
of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The ZCTU is democratic and regularly conducts open elections
to select its leadership. It is independent of any political party and the Government,
and the ZCTU and other union leaders frequently criticize MMD government
policies on such issues as wages, economic policy, and conditions of service. Aft«r
the elections, the ZCTU was accepted as a member of the International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions.
The 1991 IRA allowed for the formation of competing unions in already unionized
industries or professions and required existing unions to disaffiliate from the umbrella
ZCTU. In March a tripartite meeting of the Government, ZCTU, and the
Zambian Federation of Employers (ZFE) agreed that the IRA would be revised to
endorse the "one industry, one union" principle that had been abolished under the
1991 law. These revisions have not been completed, but in the metmtime a number
of groups wishing to organize new or breakaway unions applied for recognition
under the provisions of the existing IRA. The new organizations requesting recognition
included organizations representing miners, bankers, secondary school teachers,
technical college staff, and civil servants. The Government, while not denying the
new unions' right to organize, has yet to recognize them as legal entities. The ZCTU
and the existing unions, for their part, see the new unions as threats to their own
standing. By year's end, work on the revised IRA continued, and the controversy remained
unresolved.
Under both the old IRA, passed in 1971, and the 1991 law, all workers have the
right to strike except those m the Zambia defense force, judicial service, police force,
prison service, and security intelligence service. Strikes were commonplace throughout
the year as the workers' salaries and conditions of service were undercut by
harsh economic conditions and sharp increases in the cost of living. Under existing
legislation, strikes are permitted omy after all other recourse has been exhausted.
In practice, virtually all strikes are illegal, since they almost always commence before
the mandatory process of mediation has run its course. In June, however, workers
at the Kaiue Textiles of Zambia miU went out on a strike that was acknowledged
by the Minister of Labor as legal. In the case of far more common illegal
stnkes, the Government normally has relied on persuasion and continued mediation,
and most strikes end with increased wage settlements without government
action against the unions. However, in a number of cases in 1992 striking workers
were dismissed.
Labor unions are permitted to affiliate with international labor groups. The ZCTU
is affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
 
      b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The right of workers to organize
and bargain coflectively with employers is codified in law. The 1991 IRA was
condemned by both workers and employers, however, as being designed to cripple
trade unions and employer organizations. The legislation gave the Government more
power to control the creation and dissolution of unions, collection of dues, and operation
of workers councils. The law also reduced the ZCTU's jurisdiction over the internal
affairs of a union and perpetuated the role of works councils in dealing with
such issues as conditions of service, recruitment, salary assessments, transfers, bonuses,
and safety issues. These provisions are likely to be reviewed as the Government,
workers, and employers consider how best to revise the controversial law.
In June Vice President Mwanawasa told Parliament that the Salaries and Conditions
of Service Act, passed under the previous UNIP government, inhibited the
right of employees to bargain collectively with employers. By year's end. Parliament
was still considering repeal of the Act, which arbitrarily tied salary and wage increases
in the private sector to those of civil servants. Both the ZCTU and ZFE have
condemned the Act because it allegedly undermined the spirit of collective bargaining.
There are no export processing zones.
 
      c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Slavery and involuntary servitude
are prohibited by the Constitution. Forced labor is prohibited, except as a consequence
of a judicial sentence or court order, by members of the military, by conscientious
objectors in lieu of military service, during wartime or other national
emergency, or in the conduct of communal or civic obligations.
 
      d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum age for emplojrment
of children is 16. This and other age restrictions apply to the industrial sector,
where, because of adult unemployment, there are few employees under age 16. 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 urban areas children commonly enge^^e in street trading.
 
      e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
In 1991 the Government established a minimum
monthly wage rate for all employees, except professionals, plus housing and
transportation allowances. However, each industry may 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 Security sets
the minimum wage rate for employees in positions such as delivery assistants, general
workers, and office orderlies. These "minimums" are insufficient to provide an
adequate standard of living. Most Zambian woikers must supplement their incomes
through second jobs, subsistence farming, or reliance on the extended family. The
normal workweek is 40 hours, but it is not a legal maximum. The legal maximum
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).
Zambian law regulates minimum health and safety standards in £my industrial
undertaking. Enforcement of industrial safety in the mines is the responsibility of
the Department of Mines. Factory safety is handled by the Inspector of Factories
under the Minister of Labor, but stafiing problems chronically limit enforcement effectiveness,
and in April the Chief Inspector described safety conditions in many factories
as poor.