Jurisdiction of the Labour Court and Superior Courts: Chikara kununa kudya chimwe... Judicial Subversion Under the Cloak of Legality — Part 2.

Abstract

It is befitting that we should inaugrate the Kempton Makamure Labour Law Lecture Series with a discussion on the jurisprudence and jurisdiction of the Labour Court and High Court in labour disputes. The key question attendant to it, namely whether the Labour Court as a specialised dispute resolution institution has or should have exclusive jurisdiction in labour matters ousting the original inherent jurisdiction of the formal superior courts, raises fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of labour law. One’s answer to this question ultimately depends on one’s philosophical or world outlook which in turn belies one’s position in the fundamental struggle of our society - that is the struggle between the working class and the bourgeoisie over who should own and control the process of labour, including the means of production, and who takes the lion-share of the fruits of such labour. For whoever does, ultimately also gets the instruments of political authority over society.