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| Mutasa |
A showdown is looming between the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) and its membership over the labour representative body’s
decision to join MDC-Alliance ahead of the embattled party’s crunch congress
next month to elect new leadership, The Herald has learnt. The turmoil brewing
in the labour body comes after 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 The Herald, 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.
Mr 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,”
reads the document.
“The NSC indicated that the specific quota would be
discussed and finalised in due course.” The ZCTU general council members argue
that their membership is drawn from different political parties. The communiqué containing the MDC-Alliance
resolution was allegedly issued out by the party spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume a
day after the meeting.
ZCTU general council member, Mr Thomas Masvingwe, remarked
on a ZCTU WhatsApp chat group after the publication of the resolution that the
labour body’s constitution had no provision for the allocation of a quota by
the MDC-Alliance, according to the document.
“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 jobs
carnage.
Mr Masvingwe noted that an MDC, G40 and ZCTU alliance would
be toxic to labour, suggesting that the vanquished G40 faction of Zanu-PF was
also making overtures to join the MDC-Alliance.
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.
MDC-Alliance spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume confirmed the
ZCTU link to the party and said it originated from the labour body. Herald
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