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"id": 220954,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
"slug": "danson-mungatana"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the first institution that has been created here, as he has said while moving, is the National Labour Board. For a very long time, labour and the employer have been set theoretically to be different people and sides that are antagonistic. That used to be the situation in the Marxist Theory. Labour and employers have been set like antagonistic forces. But in the 21st century, labour and the employer organizations are supposed to be working together. The National Labour Board, very clearly, has attempted to bring the labour representatives; union people, to sit in the same Board with people who are from reputable employer organizations. This is commendable. The formation of this Board was a good brain wave and we should support it, as a House. Apart from advising the Minister, one of the beautiful provisions that has been made as one of the duties of this National Labour Board, under Clause 7(P), it is supposed to deal with any matters that are related to the functions of the Board. That means that they can advise the Minister May 17, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1451 on literally everything. They have provided for some of those issues that they may advise the Minister on, but also on matters that are alien. That means that anything that we have not thought about, the Board which comprises of both representatives of labour unions and employers representatives who are the employers, would be able to properly advise the Minister. Therefore, this is a wonderful provision which is commendable. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at Clause 7, Subclause (6), there is a clear provision that, this Board is not going to be idle. It is a Board where the Secretary is supposed to file a report on the state of labour and the market for labour or employment in this country. The Secretary is also supposed to give a report on strikes and lock-outs and, the number of complaints and disputes. All these are what we can call a normal management of the economy of labour. That is the supply and demand for labour. Therefore, it will be able to anticipate what might happen. That is very important because, then, we create stability in the two major factors of production. These are the employers and the employees. What will happen then is that the country, through the Minister, will be able to anticipate any form of industrial disputes that may be coming, knowing the history. They will also be able to know how to tackle them, borrowing from the experience of the representatives of the workers and the employers. That is a commendable provision. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second institution which has been created and which I wish to strongly support is the National Labour Court. The court will have powers to sort out most of the disputes that will arise. It will have equal power like the High Court. It will sort out most of the problems that workers have been experiencing. One of the problems that workers experience in the normal courts, is that in the normal court systems, there is a magistrate or a High Court judge who is trained in the normal civil or criminal law of the country. They do not have specialization on labour or environmental matters. This is a good move because we are talking about specialised courts. There will be people and magistrates both in the subordinate and in the higher levels who will be looking at labour and workers' issues. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my years of practice in the field of law, many times when you file a suit seeking compensation for workers who have been dismissed, wrongfully sent home or claiming compensation, you sit there with a magistrate or a judge and start going through labour laws and what it is all about because they may not have even taken it as an elective at the university. Therefore, you have a problem persuading that judge that there is, indeed, reason for that person who has been dismissed to be re-instated or there is, indeed, reason for that person who has been denied his benefits to be given or there is, indeed, reason for the wrongful dismissal to be commuted to a normal termination so that the person can get his benefits. Therefore, what happens is that in the normal civil courts, the magistrate or the judge will look at the case and if he sees that it is a labour matter and it is something that he has to look into the law books to study again, that matter is given another date and many other dates. You will find many matters or cases pending before the High Court and the subordinate courts because the magistrates are not specialised or are not well versed with this law. The creation of labour courts needs to be supported by this House. I am very happy because it means that many of those cases that are now pending in the normal civil courts, because of people who want to push them to other dates, will be transferred to these specialised courts, and there will be quick determination. For the economy of this country, it means issues relating to one important factor of production, labour, will be resolved quickly and, therefore, labour will go back to what it is supposed to do, which is engage in production in this economy. This is a wonderful provision. The only thing that we need to look at a little more is the provision that has been made under Clause 16. If you look at Clause 16, there is a provision there that the judge who is listening to a trade dispute, or any form of industrial matter that has been placed before him, if he so wishes, 1452 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 17, 2007 will call upon assessors. It says that such an assessor, when he is appointed, will have power even to help the judge in determining these matters. The reality of the facts, and coming from experience of the courts, assessors have been appointed in the High Court to help judges in normal criminal cases to determine matters of criminal nature. Whenever there is a case before a judge that has to do with capital offences, especially the offence of murder, assessors have been called to sit with the judge. But we, lawyers who have been practising and, indeed, even the receivers of justice, our clients, have cried and complained many times about assessors. Assessors have been one of the biggest causes of delays in completion of matters. We are so happy that in this Ninth Parliament, there is a provision which we are now considering, under the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill that the Attorney-General has placed before this House, that will abolish the necessity for assessors to sit in the High Court and determine criminal cases together with a judge. If that is being done in criminal cases--- We are running away from assessors because of the problems that we have experienced with them. We will need to look at this provision again. Putting this provision on assessors under Clause 16 will not have the desired effect when it comes to the practical level. These assessors are people who are not normally trained. They are people whom the judge, or the registrar of the court, will look through a list and then somebody whom he thinks is of good character to help him determine a matter. What happens, because there are not qualified people, sometimes payment delays, or because of other administrative issues, these people are not available. Normally, you will find a matter dragging over a period of time unnecessarily when it could have been determined. So, I would ask the Minister to re-look at this provision in that clause. Otherwise, I think this is a brilliant piece of legislation that we need to support as a House. It will move us from the old kind of adminstration of labour matters to a new era in the administration of labour matters, and I would urge the House to give it unqualified support, of course benefitting from any other amendments that might be necessary. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to second."
}