12. Freedom of demonstration and assembly and the right to strike 267. The Constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees freedom of association and assembly. The right of workers to undertake collective industrial action, and the procedure to be followed, is regulated by the Zimbabwean Labour Act. Meetings and demonstrations in Zimbabwe fall within the purview of the general public order statute, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and the criminal law. 159 268. The approach of the authorities to the right to demonstrate and strike in Zimbabwe allegedly breached workers’ and employers’ rights to freedom from interference and arbitrary arrest and detention and amounted to a form of intimidation and harassment, as will be discussed in detail in Chapters 15–20 of this report. I. Freedom of demonstration and assembly 269. The complainants alleged systematic infringements of freedom of assembly and demonstration over the past ten years, often in relation to the implementation of the POSA. It was made known to the Commission that section 24 of the POSA required organizers of “public gatherings” to notify the police of those events except, inter alia, in relation to public gatherings “held by a registered trade union for bona fide trade union purpose for the conduct of business in accordance with the Labour Relations Act”. 160 The ZCTU and AttorneyGeneral both noted that in law the POSA explicitly did not apply to trade union gatherings for trade union – rather than political – purposes. 270. The ZCTU further stated that while they understood that their events, as trade union activities, did not require permission from the police under the POSA, as a matter of courtesy ZCTU officials uniformly advised the police of forthcoming events including national, regional and local meetings, stay-aways and marches. The police had either denied permission for such events to occur; granted permission for them to go ahead, on the proviso that certain conditions were followed; or obstructed them even when permission was granted without the attachment of any conditions. 161 271. The Attorney-General expressed his surprise that trade unionists had been prosecuted under the POSA and suggested that possibly the police had mistakenly believed that the organizations were not trade unions, or that people had pretended to be trade unionists when in reality they were not. In this connection, it was explained to the Commission that the general perception that the ZCTU was linked to the MDC meant that ZCTU activities were considered by the authorities not to be bona fide trade union events, but to be political in nature. 162 159 See Chapter 9 (National legislation in relation to freedom of association). 160 Schedule to the Labour Act; see Chapter 9 (National legislation in relation to freedom of association). 161 See Chapter 18 (Interference in trade union affairs and anti-union discrimination), where this is discussed in further detail. 162 See Chapter 11 (The systematic and systemic nature of problems in the implementation of trade union rights). 76 Meetings-2009-Zimbabwe C of I-2009-12-0035-3-En.doc/v3