CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Augustine Deke, Zimbabwe, January 1999
THEME = SOCIAL ACTION
A major rift continues to widen between Mugabe's government
and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
over diverging economic policies
1998 saw Zimbabwe's dollar plummet drastically vis ą vis the USA dollar, causing a dramatic rise in the price of basic food stuffs and fuel.
By the end of 1998, Mugabe's government had failed to find any solution or even to look into demands made by the ZCTU and other organisations concerned with the country's economic welfare. These were calling for the government to curb the rampant corruption, and remove the controversial 2.5% tax which had been added to the existing 15%. Meetings between the government, the business sector and labour organisations bore no fruit.
On 27 November 1998, Mugabe passed a decree ordering people to remain at their workplaces. This was to avert strike threats by the ZCTU, which had threatened an economically devastating five-day strike that could have brought the country to a halt. Unruffled by Mugabe's action, the ZCTU dared to challenge the President's decree, and has took the matter to the High Court. The labour movement argued that Mugabe's action contravened both the enabling Presidential (Temporary Measures) Act and Zimbabwe's Constitution.
There are some who affirm that Zimbabwe's Constitution grants the President «Presidential Immunity», hence, placing him outside the normal operation of the law of the land. Some would even place him «above the law». Be that as it may, Mugabe has already used his presidential powers before, sometimes to the benefit of his own cronies. In the late 1980s, a Member of Parliament, Fredrick Shava, was saved by the President from going to jail for involvement in the Willovale car scandal. During the 1990 election, Mugabe freed two Central Intelligence Operative, Kanengoni and Chivamba, after they had shot and wounded Patrick Kombayi, a member of the Opposition.
In 1989, Mugabe used his presidential powers to extend the time given for candidates for election to hand in their nomination papers. This was to accommodate a ruling ZANU-PF candidate who had failed to meet the deadline. Failing to meet the deadline could have led to the Opposition winning the seat left vacant by ZANU-PF Member, Enos Nkala.
In 1995, Mugabe decreed that Executive Mayors would now run urban councils. The same year, he used his powers to dissolve the administrative council of the University of Zimbabwe. In 1998, he decreed a tax rise to 17.5% from 15% without amending the current Finance Act through Parliament.
Since 1980, Mugabe's government has kept thwarting workers' incessant demands for a better living wage. It should be recalled that by 1980, Zimbabwe, with a population of 12 million, already had 57 Unions. The same year, the nation was hit by a wave of strikes (297 of them!). In a bid to control the unions, Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF initiated the formation of a Trades Union Federation, which subsequently lead to the birth of the ZCTU. (Mugabe's younger brother, Albert, became the ZCTU's first Secretary-General). In 1983, there was a wage freeze. In 1984, many companies closed down, And the following year, the government introduced the Labour Relations Act which was promoted as a means of improving the welfare of the workers.
By 1985, the unions had had enough and even the government- controlled ZCTU began to adopt diverging views and plans, in flat contradiction to government policies. In October 1989, Morgan Tsvangirai, the ZCTU's Secretary-General, was briefly detained by the Central Intelligence Organisation for political reasons. Today, relations between government and ZCTU are badly strained.
With Zimbabwe's current economic woes going unheeded, the ZCTU seems to have attracted and influenced Zimbabweans, more than any opposition political party since independence in 1980. Mugabe continues to turn a «deaf ear» to the cries of his people. In 1998, violence broke out over the price rise on essential commodities. The unemployment level has been rising each year. Well over 350,000 high school and tertiary education leavers seek employment annually in the formal sector. As Zimbabwe awaits the High Court judgement over the ban on staging strikes, many people are pressing the ZCTU to turn itself into a political party. People see the ZCTU is well organised and well able to tame Mugabe's ZANU-PF which seems to have a never-ending stranglehold on power.
END
ENGLISH CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1999 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement