What’s wrong with solidarity

cheap political points.
But coming from a person who appears to glorify all things backward and primitive, it is not surprising that you used the occasion of the death of Makuwerere Bwititi and Bornwell Chakaodza to attack the current leadership of ZUJ and to announce your availability at the next elections. Shame on you.
It is astounding that you see anything wrong with providing solidarity and condolences whenever there is a death. The global anthem for the trade union movement is called Solidarity Forever, meaning that solidarity is one of the major cornerstones of any union.
Solidarity is the glue that binds the trade union family. We have a feeling that some of the quotes which you attribute to the late Chakaodza are your own creations but let your conscience deal with that – assuming you have any. You conveniently hide behind the words of a dead man, knowing that he cannot defend himself.
For the record, the ZUJ congress of 2009 was held in Bulawayo and not a mineshaft. Indeed you were a presidential hopeful, but the membership rejected you.
As former vice president, you left a legacy of absenteeism and only started attending meetings after a motion to suspend you was moved.
On the few occasions that you bothered to turn up, you would blurt irrelevant quotations borrowed from Chinua Achebe, to give the impression that you were wise. In 2003, you were tasked with spearheading efforts to establish a Secretariat but you failed and had to be relieved of that responsibility.
You were demoted from a committee running media awards because of a combination of disorganisation, laziness and incompetence.
You feign love for ZUJ but for long, you have attempted to divide members by trying to establish a rival Union for journalists on full time employment to the exclusion of unemployed, freelance journalists and those engaged in labour disputes. There is evidence to prove this. But because few people take you seriously, your call has never been heeded. When we adjusted monthly subscriptions from US$1 to US$5, you led a campaign to discourage journalists from agreeing to this but again, nobody took you seriously as happens most of the time. Your attack on the ZUJ president is unfortunate but then as a person who mauled you in an election, that is to be expected. But to correct you, the ZUJ president is a regular at the office since his role is to provide overall leadership.
It is also understandable that you are grumpy because ZUJ first vice president, Michael Chideme, whose candidature you opposed, sits a few metres away from you and is a constant reminder that nobody takes you seriously.
There is never a vacuum at the office as according to the ZUJ Constitution, the secretary-general ” . . . shall be responsible for the day to day running of the secretariat . . .” together with the national executive.
Back to your article, you write of having taken buses to Lupane to establish ZUJ structures.
The mind boggles over what structures you were going to establish there because the Matabeleland North branch is based in Hwange.
ZUJ is not just a name but a vibrant organisation. ZUJ is now one of the most recognised unions across the world as it is the vice president of the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), and sits on the executive of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
It is the immediate past president of the Southern Africa Journalists Association, SAJA. The ZUJ Co-ordinator has been seconded to offer training to all Co-ordinators/Directors of Unions in Southern Africa.
You ask what programmes the Union has embarked upon, please note that since the new leadership took over, ZUJ programming has grown in quality and depth.
1. NJAMA AWARDS:
l The new leadership in 2010 re-branded the media awards to offer members competitive rewards ranging from cash and livestock to laptops and residential stands.
l The last two NJAMA have seen US$120 000 being shared among winners who are now proud owners of vehicles, residential stands while others have started small businesses
l You may know that NJAMA is now a stand-alone programme complete with its own logos.
l During your time the only rewards you proposed for journalists were food hampers and complementary accommodation at sleazy lodges
2. Legal support (ZUJ’s busiest desk)
l Between 2010 and 2011 ZUJ represented over 100 journalists in labour cases. Beneficiaries include members from ZBC, Zimpapers, The Standard and The Mail.
l In 2011, ZUJ prevented The Mail owners from sending employees home till further notice. As a result of ZUJ’s intervention, The Mail workers where paid outstanding salaries in December 2011 after ZUJ took the matter to the Labour Court
l ZUJ has a facility to send a lawyer during internal hearings to represent members, and to offer free professional and legal counselling
l ZUJ last year launched labour network forum meetings where members discuss working conditions using practical examples from newsrooms
3.Standard rates for freelance journalists:
l ZUJ (in 2010) came up with minimum standard rates to ensure freelance journalists are paid a minimum uniform fee. Editors (including from Zimpapers) have endorsed these rates which became operational late 2011.
4.THE NEC for the Media:
The Union late last year issued a final call to media employers to constitute themselves into an association so that an NEC catering for journalists can be formed. If this final call does not produce results, ZUJ will appeal to the parent ministry to cause an NEC to be formed.
5. The Union will soon be proud owners of premises in Harare
6. Scores of our members have been deployed for junior and mid career training in the USA, Germany, Egypt and China.
7. We recently held a successful meeting with Media, Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu, his deputy Murisi Zwizwai and permanent secretary, George Charamba to discuss the issue of availing residential stands to ZUJ members
8. You may be interested to know that this year we will be embarking on a massive project to combat sexual harassment at the workplace. This is necessitated by some complaints and testimonies that we have received from female student interns and fulltime employees about sexual harassment at the workplace.
Finally comrade, I notice you write passionately about your village upbringing as if you are the only one to ever achieve such a feat.