adminare in effect a sad reminder that trade unionism in Zimbabwe has gone to the dogs and it is high time workers rose to reclaim their unions from wannabe politicians.
We hail Zimbabweans across the divide for sending a clear message to trade union leaders that they have lost faith in them and their cause, whatever it is. As we report elsewhere in this issue there was widespread apathy to the ZCTU and ZFTU organised gatherings in Harare and other parts of the country.
The worker seems to have realised that he has been taken for a ride for a long time now. Over the years the ZCTU has been behaving as a de facto political party organising demonstrations against the Government, then solely led by Zanu-PF, rather than employers. The ZFTU has not fared any better either as it opted to be a poor, anti-thesis of the ZCTU.
While we agree that the ongoing economic challenges warranted protests, we do not agree with the ZCTU’s claim that the Government is solely to blame and should be the target of such demonstrations. It is our submission that the ZCTU itself through senseless stayaways also had a lot to do with the economic challenges, in fact the demonstrations should be targeted at the United States and British embassies, whose countries are behind the illegal economic sanctions regimes that have brought so much suffering to the workforce.
Workers remember how ZCTU leaders consorted with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and how the Cosatu itinerary, in their abortive visits here, included the “who is who” of Zimbabwean opposition politics but none of the affiliate unions.
Since 1999, the day the ZCTU leadership mutated into the MDC, the labour body has been more political than representative.
If ZCTU leaders are concerned about workers they should honour their pledge to rejoin the TNF dialogue, which they sabotaged by their unilateral withdrawal on April 23 2003. Since then the TNF has been the missing link in ongoing efforts at economic turn around.
We reiterate that it is only under the auspices of the TNF that a sustainable social contract that would abet economic revival can be made.
We do not for a moment doubt that ZCTU leaders are aware of this. The enormity of the challenges to be overcome requires collective efforts for a house divided can not stand.
If we all work in the national interest in line with the spirit of the Kadoma Declaration, which calls on all stakeholders to move towards a shared national economic and social vision then our socio-economic transformation will be realised sooner rather than later.
That can never be done in the streets where only misery has been wrought over the past five years.
Online Reporter