The weekend congress will see a new ZCTU leadership emerge from the fray. But the congress was almost brought to a halt after a group of eight ZCTU affiliates approached the High Court, seeking to bar the meeting from taking place.
The groups, led by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), are backing incumbent ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo to remain at the helm of the union grouping. They are meanwhile opposed by a faction said to support Lucia Matibenga, the MDC-T MP for Kuwadzana, to take over. The MDC-T meanwhile this week denied allegations that it was imposing a party official into the leadership of the ZCTU, arguing that Matibenga is a respected trade unionist.
But the Matombo faction argued in court papers Monday that the outgoing ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe had nominated ‘individuals,’ with no affiliation to the trade union confederation, to vote at the congress. A clear reference to Matibenga being nominated to the post.
The PTUZ’s Raymond Majongwe, who is in the Matombo camp, also told journalists in Harare on Monday that ZCTU members who attend the weekend congress would have automatically “expelled” themselves.
"Those who want to expel themselves from the ZCTU should go and partake at the congress," he said.
The High Court’s judgement was initially delayed on Thursday, but the case was eventually dismissed. SW Radio Africa’s Bulawayo correspondent Lionel Saungweme reported on Friday that “they found that the plaintiffs were wasting the court’s time, because they had already agreed to the dates of the congress.”
Saungweme explained that the opening day of the congress was focused on the accreditation of delegates, some of whom are representatives from European groups. But he said it was quite telling that Lovemore Matombo, despite being the incumbent President on the ZCTU, was not there.
“If he doesn’t come this weekend then it seems quite clear that he would have lost,” Saungweme said.
Saungweme meanwhile spoke briefly to Matibenga who insisted that “the workers will elect a leader of their own choosing.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai meanwhile opened the congress, with a message of solidarity and a commitment to the welfare of Zimbabwe’s workers. He acknowledged the unity government’s failures to bring the country out of the crisis it was suffering as a result of ZANU PF, and explained that: “These are problems that can only be solved when we finish the political processes currently being shepherded by SADC to ensure a free and fair election in this country. It is only a free and fair election that can yield a legitimate government that can be able to address the concerns coming from the various sectors, workers included.”
Post published in: News