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Judgment No. CCZ 2/18
Constitutional Application No. CCZ 86/15
the employees’ contracts on notice of the obligation to pay the compensation calculated by
reference to length of service. The purpose was to ensure that the employment that was lost by
termination on notice at the initiative of the employer on or after 17 July 2015 was compensated.
There is no doubt that the welfare of employees upon termination of employment on notice
is a matter of public interest deserving of legislative protection. The law cannot be interpreted
against the employees unless the objective is shown to be unconstitutional or the means chosen for
its achievement are disproportionate to it. At no time did Mr Mpofu suggest in the argument
advanced to the Court that the purpose of the retrospective application of the legislation to the
applicants was not legitimate.
The raison d’etre of constitutional law is the human being. Section 56(1) of the
Constitution enshrines three separate but related fundamental human rights. The rights are: the
right to equality before the law; the right to equal protection of the law; and the right to benefit of
the law.
The contents of the rights must be available and claimable under any measure which meets
the standard of legality. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Rights declares that: “all human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Equality is a fundamental human right and a
principle of social justice. Every person is by virtue of being human entitled to equal access to the
remedies, protection and benefits provided under the law. As all human beings are equal, they are
entitled to equal treatment as such under the law. This idea of equality of human beings and equal
treatment as such underlies all modern, democratic and humanitarian legal systems.
Select target paragraph3
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