Chronicle Editor
Fidelis Munyoro, Harare Bureau
A showdown is looming between the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) and its membership over the labour body’s decision to join opposition MDC Alliance ahead of the embattled party’s crunch congress next month to elect new leadership, our Harare Bureau has learnt.
The turmoil brewing in the labour body comes after the MDC Alliance resolved at its National Standing Committee (NSC) meeting to allot a quota of posts to the trade union.
The resolution irked the trade union’s general council members, who expressed alarm over conspiracies by the ZCTU leadership to conflate labour and opposition politics.
According to documents gleaned by Harare Bureau, ZCTU president Mr Peter Mutasa and secretary general Mr Japhet Moyo are being accused of abusing their authority by unilaterally forcing the labour body to join opposition politics.
Mutasa reportedly wrote to MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa, formalising the request for the allocation of a quota of posts in the opposition party.
“The request was discussed and approved during the MDC NSC meeting which was held at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House on 5 April 2019,” said the document.
“The NSC indicated that the specific quota would be discussed and finalised in due course.”
The ZCTU general council members, according to the documents in our possession, have vowed to scuttle the plot by Mutasa and Moyo to force the labour body, whose membership are drawn from different political parties in the country, to join MDC-Alliance.
The communique containing the MDC Alliance resolution was allegedly issued out by the party spokesperson, Mr Jacob Mafume, a day after the meeting.
But the vocal ZCTU general council member, Mr Thomas Masvingwe remarked on a ZCTU WhatsApp chat group after the publication of the resolution that the labour body constitution had no provision for the allocation of a quota by the MDC Alliance, according to the document.
He called for the amendment of the constitution.
“He warned that should the ZCTU decide to join the MDC Alliance, that would mark the demise of the labour body. He declared that the ZCTU shall not be an appendage of a capitalist political party, which was rabidly anti-worker,” read the document in apparent reference to Mr Chamisa’s involvement in the famous 2015 Zuva judgment.
The condemned ruling allowed employers to terminate workers’ contracts of employment on three months’ notice resulting in a massive loss of jobs.
Peeved by Mr Masvingwe’s remarks Mr Mutasa responded by accusing the former of having made the request to the MDC Alliance, which the latter denied and threatened with a lawsuit.
In his follow up chats, Mr Masvingwe noted that an MDC, G40, ZCTU alliance would be toxic to labour, suggesting that the vanquished G40 was also making overtures to join the MDC Alliance.
“(Mr) Masvingwe postulated that the decision by the ZCTU to join the MDC was a Zanu-PF project to create a “one party state” since the MDC had already been captured by Zanu-PF.
Most of the over 30 ZCTU general council members are said to have rejected Mutasa’s plans to railroad them into joining the MDC Alliance, arguing that not all of their membership supported the opposition party.
“As such the plan would lead to a constitutional crisis that would necessitate the convening of an extraordinary congress.”
MDC Alliance spokesperson, Mr Jacob Mafume, confirmed the ZCTU link to the party and said it originated from the labour body.
“There are proposals that have been made as a labour-based party that we should reserve certain number of positions to the progressive labour as it is our origin, at all levels,” he said.
“They are part of us. We invite them to attend our meetings. We are happy in the loving arms of the ZCTU.”
However, sources within ZCTU said members are not happy with the leadership that has made their political position triumph over its members that are wallowing in abject poverty.
“Instead of fighting for workers’ rights and improved welfare of workers, they are focusing their energy on opposition politics,” said a source who declined to be named for fear of reprisal,” said a source who preferred anonymity.
Another source said: “The labour union has been hijacked by the MDC and we now have no one to represent us as affiliates of the union. It is proper to change leadership than to have politicians leading us.”
The ZCTU leadership political decision is seen as likely to plunge the labour body into a crisis, probably leading to leadership renewal.
Online Reporter