ICFTU ONLINE...

Brussels, December 14 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) continues to be a thorn in President Robert Mugabe’s side. On Thursday December 10, the 50^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a local weekly paper, the Financial Gazette, revealed that for several weeks Zimbabwe’s intelligence services have been investigating the activities of the national trade union centre with a view to weakening it. The government is trying to prove that international aid to Zimbabwe’s trade union movement is in reality aimed at enabling it to seize power.

It is true that with its 400,000 members and the support of nine tenths of the country’s working population the ZCTU is in a stronger position than ever before to give the President Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, in power since the country’s independence in 1980, a hard time. But this revelation shows above all that the government has driven itself into a corner, and is proving incapable of implementing effective policies to overcome the country’s social and economic crisis.

The two strike days called by the ZCTU in November were widely followed, paralysing activity in the major towns. The strike movement was aimed at protesting once again at poor economic management and at the rising cost of living, after the government’s decision to increase fuel prices by 67 per cent. The ZCTU is also demanding a 20 per cent pay rise, the abolition of certain taxes and a reduction in ministerial posts. Widespread corruption and the military expenditure incurred when the Zimbabwe’s army become involved in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo are also criticised by the trade union centre which is urging the government to publicly recognise its responsibility for a crisis which has seen a rapid rise in inflation and the collapse (a 60 per cent fall in value in one year) of the Zimbabwe dollar.

The government opted for confrontation, first by decreeing a temporary ban on strikes and threatening the trade union leaders with prison sentences, before agreeing to hold a meeting aimed at renewing the social dialogue the trade unions have constantly sought. The December 9 meeting was in vain, however. ZCTU General Secretary Morgan Tsvangirai reported that the government refused to concede anything on the fundamental issues.

By once again demonstrating its inflexibility the government has further isolated itself. It has earned criticism from the employers, who were also disappointed at the failure of the negotiations, and would like to see more government transparency. In addition to the tactical alliance between the employers and the unions who both hold the President responsible for the country’s economic decline, the government is faced with the reticence of the international financial institutions to support a regime that appears to be as unpopular as it is ineffective. The IMF has decided to delay its examination, initially foreseen for December 11, of Zimbabwe’s application for substantial financial aid.

Against this background, reports in the local press of investigations by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) into the trade union movement have further embarrassed President Mugabe, who is at a loss to deal with the social discontent his own government has caused. Moreover it is not the first time he has tried to discredit the trade unions. In March 1998, revelations broke of the State’s plans to eliminate the ZCTU, which it now views as an opposition party. It was examining the legal means of "delegalising" the ZCTU. A few months earlier, in December 1997, Morgan Tsvangirai was taken to hospital in a coma after being violently attacked in his own office. His attackers have never been identified and the police inquiry has so far led nowhere.

Implicitly targeted by the CIO, the ICFTU recalls that it sent a message to the Head of State in November, in which it reiterated its support for its affiliated organisation, urging him to support the negotiations with the unions and to take measures to avoid all repression. The regime apparently saw this as unacceptable interference in its internal affairs, and is trying to retaliate. There are very real fears that the regime will resort to violence now it has been brought to bay, given that in the recent past it has not hesitated to use force to silence any opposition.

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Boulevard Emile Jacqmain 155, B - 1210 Brussels, Belgium. For more information
please contact: Luc Demaret on: 00 322 224 0212 - press@icftu.org

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