LAST week we discussed unjust laws in the context of Statutory Instrument 129/2015 that compels vehicles to carry fire extinguishers and serviceable spare tyres. But what exactly is an unjust law? Its broad definition is that it is a law that is not in keeping with moral laws and the principles of natural justice.
YOUR RIGHTS MIRIAM TOSE MAJOME
Natural justice pertains to principles of fairness, peace, equality, respect and rightfulness in ways that are universally accepted. Standards of ethics vary across time, cultures and space, but there is a certain universally accepted standard for justice. There are certain rights that are generally guaranteed in a modern society which cannot be taken away such as the right to life, dignity, food, shelter clothes, freedom from torture, slavery and racial discrimination amongst others
We acknowledge the many great men and women people who throughout history helped shape the destiny of humankind by their bravery. Their defiance, disobedience and challenging of bad laws caused many unjust laws to be changed or abolished. Deviants like Martin Luther King (Jnr), Mbuya Nehanda, Rosa Parks, Sekuru Kaguvi, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Joshua Nkomo, Raoul Wallenburg, Oskar Schindler are just a few of the many courageous history makers. There are the many Zimbabwean and African nationalists both living and dead who we owe gratitude for their defiance of bad and unjust laws.
Racial discrimination laws
In 1963 Martin Luther King (Jnr) the black civil rights leader was arrested for openly defying a law endorsed by an Alabama court that strictly outlawed demonstrating, boycotting trespassing and picketing for black civil rights. King went ahead and wilfully defied it and got himself arrested. He was criticised by many for what they termed hypocrisy because he was a clergyman yet he chose to disobey the law of the land.
He wrote his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in response to that criticism. He argued that it is both a legal and moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. He called for equal rights of all human beings regardless of race, age, gender and belief.
If he and others like him such as Thurgood Marshall, Malcom X amongst many other unsung rebels the history of the black civil rights movement would have been completely different. Minority races would probably still be subject to discriminatory race laws. Race relations in America and worldwide are still far from perfect but defiance of racially discriminatory laws helped alter the course of race politics. Who makes statutory instruments?
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Parliament makes laws. Courts interpret them and the police enforce them. Parliament also delegates the power to make subsidiary laws such as statutory instruments and regulations to Ministers – Section 134. Statutory Instruments will firstly be published in the Government Gazette then tabled before Parliament for scrutiny by the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
It follows then that Statutory Instrument 129/2015 with all its many flaws was deemed satisfactory by our legislators in all their combined wisdom. If the lawmakers also endured the same harassment the ordinary public is subject to at the ubiquitous police road blocks perhaps they would understand people’s disgruntlement with that particular Statutory Instrument.
Selective application
It is possible to tell whether a law is just or unjust in the way it is applied. Unjust laws are normally applied to only a certain fragment of the population.
The group or groups that are numerically or politically or economically powerful ordinarily exempt themselves from obeying unjust laws. The not so powerful members of society are the ones usually expected to obey them. For example in the United States, South Africa and Rhodesia the white majority who were either numerically, politically and economically powerful were exempt from the race segregation laws they compelled the minority races to follow.
Racially discriminatory laws applied only to Black people, coloureds, Indians and other minority races. In reference to Statutory Instrument 129/2015 apart from all its impracticalities and potential hazards as discussed last week it is safe to say that it only applies to ordinary motorists.
It does not seem to apply to public service vehicles such as government vehicles and even police vehicles. People see it as an unjust law because they see government vehicles and legislators’ vehicles being waved away and exempted at road blocks. Police are not seen checking government registered for fire extinguishers and serviceable spare tyres.
The law should be applied equally and generally unless there are legally recognised exemptions such as public safety reasons amongst others. For as long as the public sees unequal application of any law that law will be regarded as unjust and will always be a sore point in the unforgiving public mind.
Rebel women
Other unsung champions of defiance of unjust laws are women in the women’s rights movement. It is a pity that when most people especially men hear of women’s rights they think it is only about forcing men to also change babies’ napkins. But far from it. Women’s rights are about real global development issues. Women have had to fight and some even died to change gender discriminatory laws.
Women have fought and died for rights pertaining to reproduction, education, work, equal pay for equal work the right to vote amongst others. A recent example is Malala Youfsazai the 15 year old Pakistani school girl who defied Taliban laws which banned girls from going to school. She was shot point blank in the face in 2012 by a Taliban militia for defying that law as she sat on a bus on her way to school. She had started campaigning and blogging about girls’ rights to education since the age of 11. Fortunately she survived the brutal attack and has intensified her activism after her recovery. She has won numerous human rights awards and is the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate.
There are also women champions like Margaret Sanger who pioneered the fight for women’s reproductive rights in.
Back when American law was will closely entwined with religion it was illegal for women to use birth control methods. They were supposed to have as many children as possible and stay at home and look after them usually in desperately impoverished circumstances with malnutrition, disease and death. Sanger defied the law at the risk of her life, family, personal safety and freedom to promote knowledge and use of contraceptives. So great was the threat on her life that she once fled to Britain for asylum. If she had not defied the prevailing unjust laws women might not be enjoying reproductive rights as they do today. There is a scientifically proved correlation between human development and women’s emancipation.
“The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it’s educating its girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if its women are oppressed and abused and illiterate then they are going to fall behind,’’ United States President Barack Obama said. What can be done?
The Ministry of Transport should engage experts in the motor industry in line with best international safety practices. We cannot invent our own rules in Zimbabwe if we do not have our own motor manufacturing industry. Space saver and run flat tyres are subjected to rigorous safety tests by qualified experts when they are designed and manufactured. The Central Vehicle Registry legally registers fit vehicles to be used in this country. The statutory instrument is unpopular because it is a very bad law. Parliament should immediately review it and the police should stop enforcing it. Miriam Tose Majome is a lawyer and a teacher. She can be contacted on [email protected]
