SOCIAL CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF WORKERS IN
SOUTHERN AFRICA
The Charter was approved by trade unionists from various Southern African countries at
a meeting held under the auspices of the Southern African Trade Union Coordination
Council (SATUCC) in 1991 and ratified subject to national laws by the Southern African
Labour Commission (SALC) in Lusaka on 12 March 1992. Also reprinted in 5 African
Journal of International and Comparative Law/RADIC (1993) 238
The national trade union centres of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as the Azanian Trade Union Coordinating
Council, together with the National Centres inside South Africa, the Congress of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU) and the National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU), demand:
A. Basic Human Rights and Trade Union Rights
The recognition by governments in the region of the universal and indivisibility of basic human
rights, in accordance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and basic trade union rights as follows:

The right to strike and engage in other forms of effective industrial action, including
solidarity action, without dismissal. The right to strike must follow easy and expeditious
procedures;

Proper definition of essential services to prevent abuse by the state or by employers;

Automatic organisational rights for representative unions (including the rights to check-off,
education and training, freedom of access by trade union officials to all parts of the
workplace, holding of meetings, bargaining);

The right to organise, associate and form trade unions independent from the state and
employers, with this right entrenched in the legislation;

The right of trade unions to conduct their business without state interference.
B. Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO)
The ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions and Recommendations, and procedures
for complaints concerning non-respect of ratified conventions, to be openly discussed at regional
level on a tripartite basis, in compliance with the principles of ILO Convention No 120 on
Tripartism, preferably in the framework of the Southern African Labour Commission (SALC).
C. Prevention of Discrimination and Exploitation

The prohibition of any form of discrimination based on race, colour, sex, creed, religion,
physical disability, marital status, or nationality at the workplace;

The prohibition of child labour and all forms of forced and semi-forced labour.
D. Working and Living Conditions

The upward harmonisation of minimum requirements laid down in labour legislations and in
particular the introduction of a uniform maximum period of work of 40 hours per week, the
specification of minimum rest periods, annual paid leave, compassionate leave, paid
parental leave, adequate occupational health and safety protection, and the stipulation of
acceptable rules and compensation for overtime and shift work;

The right for workers to live and work in a healthy environment, requiring government
action to implement sustainable environmental policies.
E. Company Regulations
The enactment and enforcement of effective anti-trust legislation and the introduction of a
harmonised system for the disclosure of audited financial records and accounts, and all other
relevant information, for all public and private companies. Moreover, all companies operating in
more than one country within the region should make available their consolidated annual reports
in all the countries in which they operate.
F. Industrial Courts
The establishment of autonomous industrial courts, on the basis of mutual agreement by trade
unions and employers on appointment of judges, with right of recourse to an Industrial Appeal
Court on the basis of expeditious procedures.
G. Migrant Workers

Freedom of movement, residence and employment throughout the region;

The right for migrant workers to join trade unions without any hindrance;

The right for migrant workers from within the region to transfer without restrictions their
wages and other benefits to their home country. The maintenance of other benefits such
as insurance and contributions to provident funds should be guaranteed upon termination
of their contract, even if they return to their home countries. The practice of short-term and
temporary employment contracts which force workers to return home in order to be reengaged anew must be phased out;

The right for migrant workers to live with their families in the country of employment.
H. Rights to Negotiation
The provision of mandatory negotiation and protection of workers in the case of collective
redundancies or dismissal as a direct consequence of a merger, transfer, introduction of new
technology, insolvency, or restructuring, as well as the maintenance of existing workers rights and
standards following any change in ownership.
I. Economic Rights

The right for trade unions to participate in the social, economic and political decisionmaking process at all levels (eg living wage, health and safety, social wage, taxation,
education).
There must be processes that strengthen negotiation and collective
bargaining;

Trade union and workers' rights must be guaranteed throughout the region to prevent both
unscrupulous employers and governments exploiting lower labour standards in the practice
of “social dumping” whereby companies move their operations to the countries where trade
union rights are less respected and so labour costs are cheaper.
J. Gender Rights
The end of discrimination based on sex, the strengthening of parental rights, and provision for
proper health care and day care centres. These rights will allow women to take their rightful
position in all leadership structures of society.
K. Education Rights
The obligation of governments and employers, as well as trade unions, to contribute towards
workers’ education and training, and skills development and upgrading, which is particularly
important in the light of technical developments. All workers should have the right to paid study
leave.
L. Supervisory Procedures

The establishment of a supervisory procedure at regional level, implemented by a tripartite
body, whereby complaints concerning violation of basic human and trade union rights can
be reviewed, examined and the ensuing recommendations made public and enforced;

Effective workers organisations’ access to all print and electronic media, with guarantee of
lack of bias in news coverage through accountability to a tripartite complaints procedure.
CONCLUSION
The onus for the implementation of these demand objectives must lie with national governments
and existing regional structures as they carry responsibility for adopting social legislation,
preventing social dumping and promoting equitable growth.
We declare that the above objectives are in the best interests of all working people and of our
societies as a whole. As representatives of organised labour in Southern Africa, we pledge to
struggle side by side for their full implementation.