Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report and the discussion which took place in the Conference Committee in 1990.

The Committee notes in particular the Government's indications that it considers the observations by the Committee as valid and that legislation is currently under revision. The first part of the revision covers labour laws. The draft texts of the revised laws have already been debated by employers' and workers' organisations and the Labour Advisory Board and will be tabled before the National Assembly as soon as practicable. The second part of the review exercise covers other legislation which requires extensive interministerial consultations: the Ministry of Labour and the Labour Law Review Committee of the Law Reform Commission on which employers' and workers' organisations are represented are working on a final report to be submitted to the government for further action. The Labour Law Review Committee has included among its recommendations the comments and observations of the Committee as issues that need immediate attention.

The Committee hopes that the Government will provide further information on the measures taken to bring national legislation into conformity with the Convention and on the provisions actually adopted on the following matters:

Tanganyika

1. In previous comments, the Committee noted that forced or compulsory labour may be imposed in circumstances falling within Article 1(a), (c) and (d) of the Convention under the following legislative provisions:

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Under section 25 of the Newspaper Act, 1976, the President may, if he considers it necessary in the public interest or in the interest of peace and order, prohibit the further publication of any newspaper. Any person who prints, publishes, sells or distributes in a public place such a newspaper may be punished with imprisonment (involving, by virtue of Part XI of the Prison Act, 1977, an obligation to perform labour).

Article 1(c). Under section 284A of the Penal Code, any employee of a "specified authority" (i.e. the Government, a local authority, a registered trade union, the Tanganyika African National Union or any body affiliated to it, any publicly owned company, etc.) who causes pecuniary loss to his employer or damage to his employer's property, by any wilful act or omission, negligence or misconduct, or failure to take reasonable care or to discharge his duties in a reasonable manner, may be punished with imprisonment for up to two years (involving an obligation to work).

Under section 176(9) of the Penal Code, any person employed under lawful employment of any description who is, without lawful excuse, found engaged in a frolic of his own at a time he is supposed to be engaged in activities connected or relating to the business of his employment may be punished with imprisonment (involving an obligation to work). In addition, under section 26 of the Human Resources Deployment Act, the Minister shall make such arrangements as will provide for a smooth and co-ordinated transfer or any other measure which will provide for the rehabilitation and full deployment of persons chargeable with or previously convicted under section 176 of the Penal Code.

Article 1(c) and (d). Under section 145(1)(b), (c) and (e) and section 147 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1967, various breaches of discipline by seamen are punishable by imprisonment, involving an obligation to perform labour. Under section 151, any seaman who deserts from a foreign ship may be forcibly conveyed on board ship or delivered to the master, mate or owner of the ship or his agent.

Article 1(d). Sections 4, 8, 11 and 27 of the Permanent Labour Tribunal Act, 1967, which contain general provisions for compulsory arbitration in labour disputes, make it possible in practice to render all strikes illegal and punishable with imprisonment (involving compulsory prison labour).

The Committee has noted the Permanent Labour Tribunal (Amendment) Act of 26 March 1990 under which the words "Permanent Labour Tribunal" are substituted by the words "Industrial Court of Tanzania". The Committee notes that the modifications introduced into the Act have not changed the substance of the provisions on which the Committee has been commenting.

Recalling that these matters have been under consideration for a number of years and that the statutory provisions conflicting with the Convention are to a large extent contained in legislation outside the normal purview of a labour code, the Committee hopes that the draft legislation envisaged will indeed provide for the repeal of all provisions which are incompatible with the Convention, and that the Government will soon indicate that the necessary action has been taken.

Zanzibar

2. In its previous observation, the Committee noted the Government's indication that the Afro-Shirazi Party Decree No. 11 of 1965, by virtue of which the Afro-Shirazi Party was declared the sole political Party and all other political parties, organisations or societies were declared unlawful and membership therein was made punishable with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour), had been superseded and was no longer in force since the creation of the Revolutionary Party (Chama cha Mapinduzi) of Tanzania, that the United Republic of Tanzania is a one-party democratic State and Chama cha Mapinduzi is the ruling Party governed by its constitution.

The Committee had noted from the text of the constitution of Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) supplied by the Government that a joint national conference of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) assembled in Dar es Salaam on 21 January 1977 resolved and proclaimed the dissolution of these two parties and the simultaneous establishment of CCM as a new and sole political Party for the whole of Tanzania. Under section 1 of its constitution, this Party shall exercise final authority in respect of all public affairs; under section 5(4), the Party is to maintain and carry forward the ideological line of the founding fathers of TANU and ASP bequeathed to it in the various documents of those parties; under section 6, every member of TANU and ASP shall, unless he wishes otherwise, become a founder-member of Chama cha Mapinduzi. The Committee also notes that the Constitution of Zanzibar of 1984, the Swahili text of which has been communicated by the Government, pays tribute to the standard-setting work of the ASP and provides in section 5 that CCM is the single Party in Tanzania and that all institutions are under the authority and responsibility of this Party.

The Committee notes that under the Constitution of Zanzibar (Consequential, Transitional and Temporary Provisions Decree), 1979 (Revolutionary Council Decree No. 3 of 1980), a copy of which was provided by the Government with its report, the Afro-Shirazi Party Decree was repealed.

The Committee expresses the hope that on an appropriate occasion any other penal provisions punishing membership in political organisations other than the sole political party with penalties involving compulsory labour will be repealed.

3. The Committee refers in a direct request to a number of other statutory provisions having a bearing on Article 1(a), (c) and (d) of the Convention. Referring also to the Government's previous statement that measures are being taken with a view to ensuring that prisoners covered by the Convention be exempted from prison labour, the Committee hopes that action to bring legislation into conformity with the Convention will be taken in the near future.