HARARE, Nov 30 (IPS) - Zimbabwe's labour leaders and rights activists have described last week's banning of demonstrations by President Robert Mugabe as ''dictatorial.''
''Following our two successful stayaways (Nov 11 and Nov 18), we were expecting them (government) to do something funny,'' said Gibson Sibanda, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Mugabe, 74, used his enormous presidential powers on Nov 27 to amend the Labour Relations Act and banned ''the inciting of, or taking part in, collective industrial action meant to put pressure on the government to change laws.''
The decree effectively suppresses the mass stayaways called by the ZCTU to change government policy.
Defiant Sibanda, addressing journalists on Monday, said it was the prerogative of the ZCTU's General Council to call for a stayaway. ''This is a last desperate attempt by the government to stifle (opposition),'' said ZCTU secretary-general Morgan Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe's labour leaders said they were seeking a legal opinion on the decree and have already asked their lawyers to appeal to the Supreme Court for a constitutional-test case. The labour body has until Friday to do so as the Supreme Court winds up its end-of-year business that day.
Looking calm and composed during the press conference, Sibanda said the prospect of being jailed should they call for another stayaway did not scare them. ''We are very much ready to be locked in (jailed),'' Sibanda said. ''We are prepared to die for our rights.''
The local human rights watchdog, ZimRights, also has condemned the ban. ''We categorically say no to mass action ban,'' said David Chimhini, executive director of ZImRights. ''The constitutionality of Presidental Powers (Temporary Measures) Act was, and is still, questionable from the day of gazetting.
''ZimRights notes that the Labour Relations Act governs the relationship between workers and employers. In this case, the standoff is between labour and government. We therefore question the rationale of amending a piece of legislation which has nothing to do with the relationship between labour and the government,'' said Chimhini.
Under the decree, labour organisations which recommend, encourage or incite people to engage in unlawful collective action will have their registration suspended, while employers who encourage staff to join illegal action shall be convicted and fined up to 2,500 U.S. dollars, or jailed for up to three years or both.
Employers have been given the go ahead to fire any worker who takes part in unlawful collective action without ministerial approval.
According to Sibanda, the ZCTU's general Council will meet on Dec 5 to discuss the issue of a stayaway. Tsvangirai assured workers that they should not doubt their Union's ability to call for a stayaway. ''We can implement a stayaway today, tomorrow and any time that is convenient for us,'' he declared.
The ZCTU did not call a stayaway on Wednesday (Nov 25), not because of the government's threat to arrest them, Tsvangirai said. ''It is because ZCTU's National Executive Committee has decided to give these talks (tripartite negotiations with government and employers) a chance and to test government sincerity.''
The government has asked for urgent talks with the labour body and employers. ''Should no progress be achieved in the talks, the (ZCTU) Executive Committee will have no choice but to implement the decision of the General Council for a stayaway,'' said Sibanda.
Local lawyers also have reacted angrily at the ban. ''It is unconstitutional. It infringes on the right of expression and association and I don't think it will survive in court,'' said Lovemore Maduku.
He said the ban may as well expose ZCTU's political colour. ''It may force ZCTU to be open about their political intentions,'' said Maduku. There is pressure on the ZCTU to transform into a labour political party.
''It reinforces the fact that we should have constitutional reforms which cuts down the presidential powers,'' he said.
President Mugabe's executive powers have long been a source of conflict between the ruling party and opposition parties. Opposition politicians have in the past tried to have the constitution amended to remove the enormous powers wielded by Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), in office since independence in 1980.
The opposition have, for example, referred to the controversial Electoral Act which gives the head of state the power to approve or invalidate the results of any general election.
The ruling party has an added advantage. Section 58 of the constitution empowers President Mugabe to appoint 20 non- constituency legislators. ZANU-PF also benefits from the support of ten tribal chiefs elected into parliament by a college of the country's traditional leaders aligned to Zanu-PF.
According to Zimrights, the Electoral Act gives ''excessive powers to the president as he can suspend or amend any provisions of the act or any other law in so far as it applies to any election''. This places the whole electoral process in the hands of the incumbent president, it said.
However, the Attorney General, Patrick Chinamasa, argues that the 1986 Presidential Powers Act is aimed at enabling the president to deal with urgent situations which cannot wait for parliamentary procedures.(END/IPS/lm/mn/98)