The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), once led by Tsvangirai
and an ally of his MDC party, said workers should return to their jobs
and give the new unity government a chance to deliver on its promise to
pay workers living wages.
Tsvangirai, sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday to open a new
chapter of cooperation with President Robert Mugabe, has promised to
pay civil servants in hard cash in a bid to lure them back to work and
get Zimbabwe functioning again.
The Prime Minister told ZimOnline yesterday that he sticks to his
promise to pay government workers in hard cash but would not disclose
how he planned to raise the foreign currency to pay hundreds of
thousands of government workers including the army and police.
I have made a commitment and we have to find the money to pay them.
But how much, it still hasn't been decided yet but we must find
something to alleviate the plight of our people who have been receiving
worthless currency, he said.
ZCTU chairman Lovemore Matombo urged civil servants to trust
Tsvangirai, who as the union's secretary in the 90s rose to national
prominence leading worker protests for more pay and better living
conditions.
We are saying to these employees in terms of the spirit of working
together and to try and show a spirit of good co-existence, at the
moment they have to go back to work. We will assess at the end of the
month whether government pays them in foreign currency or not, Matombo
said at a press briefing in Harare.
However Matombo, who has voiced strong reservations about the unity
government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, said the ZCTU would support
workers boycotting work should the new administration backtrack on its
promise to pay salaries in hard cash.
Meanwhile the ZCTU leader called on Mugabe to pardon prominent human
rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and about 30 MDC activists held in
jail since last year.
He said, "We are in an embarrassing environment in which the Prime
Minister is sworn in when people arrested on political grounds are
still in prison. What this (swearing in) means is that we are having a
new beginning and if the President so wishes, he has the power to
pardon (the detainees).
"It's an embarrassment to this new government that we are speaking of a new government yet there are people who are arrested."
Mukoko, a former state broadcaster and now director of human rights
organisation Zimbabwe Peace Project, and the MDC activists are accused
of attempting to recruit people for military training in neighbouring
Botswana to overthrow Mugabe. They deny the charges.
The accused were all kidnapped from different places last year and held
incommunicado for several weeks during which their lawyers say they
were severely tortured by state agents in a bid to force them to admit
to the charges of banditry.
Several local and international human rights groups including Amnesty
International have called for the release of the detainees some of who
are said to be in need of urgent medical attention after they suffered
serious injury at the hands of their torturers.
Tsvangirai on Wednesday called for their immediate release from jail
but told ZimOnline yesterday that the matter will be handled by the
courts. – ZimOnline