The six applicants were jointly charged in a magistrates court with a contravention of s 6(6) of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act [Chapter 65], it being alleged that they had taken part in a public procession for which a permit under s 6(2) of the Act had not been obtained. After pleas of not guilty had been tendered, counsel for the applicants sought to argue that s 6 was ultra vires ss 20 and 21 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and that, in consequence, the charge was bad in law. The presiding magistrate, as he was entitled to do in terms of s 24(2) of the Constitution, referred the question to this court for determination. THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND On 1 June 1992, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions applied, pursuant to s 6(2) of the Law and (Maintenance) Act, as read with s 4 of the Law and Order (Maintenance) (Holding of Public Processions and Public Gatherings) Directions 1981 (SI 727 of 1981), to a regulating authority, being the police officer in command for Harare Central District, for permission to stage a peaceful public procession on the morning of Saturday, 13 June 1992. The application met with the cryptic response: “We must advise you that taking other factors into consideration the application was not successful.” No factors were disclosed. Notwithstanding the denial of permission, from about 0900 hours on the aforementioned day a procession of worker-members commenced to move along Robert Mugabe Road towards the city centre of Harare. When the procession reached the intersection with Kaguvi Street, it was halted by officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. They advised that the procession was illegal and called upon everyone to disperse. Most did so. Only a small group of about thirty persons carried on with the procession. When informed that they were to be arrested all but six, who were carrying banners, fled. The six, the present applicants, were apprehended. Their banners proclaimed four of the demands of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. These were the withdrawal of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, the re-introduction of subsidies on basic commodities, the shelving of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme and the ending of transport queues. Page 54 of 1994 (1) ZLR 49 (S) THE STRUCTURE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS Since the right to demonstrate in the form of a procession touches directly upon the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly, it is necessary at the outset to refer to the relevant provisions of the Declaration of Rights, being Chapter III of the Constitution, under which these fundamental freedoms are afforded protection. They are ss 11, 20 and 21. Section 11 reads: “Whereas every person in Zimbabwe is entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, that is to say, the right whatever his race, tribe, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest, to each and all of the following, namely — (a) life, liberty, security of the person and the protection of the law; (b) freedom of conscience, of expression and of assembly and association; and (c) protection for the privacy of his home and other property and from the compulsory acquisition of property without compensation: