Labour Law Controversies and Debates Brought by The Labour Act Amendment Number 11 of 2023 In Zimbabwe

The latest reform to labour relations in Zimbabwe is the Labour Amendment Act Number eleven of 2023. The amendment was done to enhance labour justice and balance power dynamics between the employees and employers of various business organisations in the private sector, against the history of colonial imbalances. Nevertheless, researchers argue that the amendment, contrastingly created major controversies and legal uncertainties which worsened long-standing issues in the labour market, instead of resolving them. Through a qualitative research approach encompassing trade unionists, employees, legal practitioners and human resource practitioners as the key participants, the present study identifies and analyses the contentious sections of the Labour Amendment Act, number eleven of 2023. study results indicated that section 101 relating to employment codes of conduct, section 56 on employment councils, section 12 on termination of contracts, and section 63 on the jurisdiction of designated agents have confusion and contradictory interpretations. These challenges have created jurisdictional battles, a collapse of the dispute resolution system and a sense of insecurity among workers and employers. Supported by the proximity theory, the paper demonstrates that the amendment of the labour act failed on the cultural, geographical and temporal proximity fronts and that weakens access to justice. The paper concludes that without urgent legislative clarification and stakeholder engagement, the labour amendment number eleven of 2023 risks creating more inequalities than justice it sought to achieve in the Zimbabwean workplace.