Unions and the Swaziland Federation of Labour, met in South Africa on
Tuesday to prepare for an international conference to be held in
Johannesburg next month. The conference is set to mobilise solidarity with
the people of both Zimbabwe and Swaziland in their struggle for democracy
and human rights.According to a COSATU statement, Tuesday’s meeting “agreed on the need to
build the capacity of the trade union movement into a neatly weaved
programme of action” and as such “the Southern African Trade Union
Co-ordinating Council and individual affiliates in the region need deeper
engagement to institutionalise solidarity as a permanent feature of the
regional trade union movement”.COSATU’s Patrick Craven told Newsreel on Wednesday that the meeting
“supported calls for an interim government to be set up in Zimbabwe until
such a time that free and fair elections can be held”. Craven added that the
meeting agreed to oppose “Western powers initiated sanctions” in favour of a
“united workers movement in forms of demonstrations at Zimbabwe’s borders”.
Craven said this move is “preferable to Western imposed sanctions because we
suspect they have their own agenda that will not benefit the people of
Zimbabwe”.Craven said the federation would rather see a “grassroots movement of
solidarity” and in this regard, it has called on workers in the region and
world wide to refuse to handle goods destined for Zimbabwe, for an initial
period of one week. Craven said this week of action is merely an attempt to
“accelerate progress towards democratic change” and added that COSATU “has
no interest in bringing the people of Zimbabwe into more abject poverty than
they already find themselves in”.Craven said the plan for a world wide workers’ boycott will be approved at
next month’s solidarity conference in Johannesburg. He added that COSATU and
other regional trade unions already follow a policy “to refuse to assist the
leaders of Zimbabwe’s illegitimate government” to continue putting pressure
on the Robert Mugabe regime. He said workers in South Africa, SADC, Africa
and the world over, as well as all progressive citizens, have been urged to
work towards a total isolation of Mugabe and his government by ensuring
Mugabe and his “government” is not served at airports, restaurants, and
shops.Tuesday’s meeting also agreed to work with the rest of civil society to
stage a mass protest and rally when the SADC heads of states summit is
convened in South Africa next month. COSATU has also called on its
affiliates and civil society organisations, to commit to a human rights
programme and to organise rallies during July.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news