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, immediately to
open a new chapter of cooperation with the veteran leader, 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 stick to his
promise 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 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
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) mean is that we are having a
new beginning and if the President so wishes, he has the power to
pardon (the detainees).
"Its 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.
State agents to guard new Prime Minister Tsvangirai
HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was on Wednesday allocated
four state security agents to keep him guard, in an ironic twist of
events for the man who was on several occasions victimized and even
brutally assaulted by the same security forces before assuming his new
role.
As Tsvangirai addressed thousands of supporters at Harare's Glamis
Stadium, hours after being inaugurated at State House, the four
bodyguards, who have formed part of President Robert Mugabe's close
security in the past, stood beside him.
A source from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party
said the four bodyguards were offered to him soon after the
inauguration and will complement the team that he already had.
The move however did not go down well with some of the bodyguards who
had been part of Tsvangirai's security team over the past 10 years and
are now being sidelined.
We are happy with the security but as you know the move will have its
own victims, said one of the MDC security personnel who could not be
named for security reasons. Some youngsters who had been guarding
Tsvangirai are now being sidelined.
A government of national unity is expected to start work this week
after the inauguration of Tsvangirai as Prime Minister yesterday while
ministers will be sworn in on Friday.
Mugabe will head the unity government while another opposition leader
Arthur Mutambara and Tsvangirai's deputy in the MDC, Thokozani Khupe,
will be deputy prime ministers.