The Zimbabwean has for many years now been a crucial source of information for Zimbabweans. In fact it is the only newspaper that soldiered on during Zimbabwe's darkest hour when it was taboo in many parts of the country to read a newspaper other than The Herald or its stable mates.
While I wish The Zimbabwean would continue with that noble role, I am disturbed by this opinion about the ZCTU split. When a piece is written by a journalist it must be different from the emotive pieces by ordinary readers through its research, depth, balance and interviews with the relevant sources.
This particular piece shows none of the above. The reporter drew conclusions from a position far from the ZCTU.
To begin with, it is neither correct nor fair to say that Matombo is clinging on to power. The ZCTU constitution, like many trade unions constitutions throughout the World, has no limits on terms in office. He can stand for re-election for as long as he remains popular.
This reporter must have alluded to this fact and further mentioned that Chibhebe initially posited that the ZCTU Constitution did not allow its president to stand for a third term and therefore Matombo was not legible.
He stood firm on this position and everyone must have been surprised that at the 11th hour Chibhebe went on to accept Matombo's nomination. Had Chibhebe altered the constitution in order to enable Matombo to qualify for re-election is the question which your reporter should have asked.
Secondly, Matombo and the group that has moved away from the circus of Chibhebe asked for a thorough verification of numbers of members of each union in order to make a proportionate allocation of delegates to the Congress for each affiliate. This process was sidelined by Chibhebe in fragrant violation of the constitution.
As a result, the Agriculture Workers Union that has become defunct with the collapse of the white commercial farmers was made one of the biggest unions, although not a single member exists in the register, Lucia Matibenga who has no union, was made vice president although she has no known registered members, union or union offices.
Nkiwane, who was made the president of the ZCTU, has no position in any affiliate union in Zimbabwe. He was deposed as president of the Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union in 2006 and has been hanging around in the ZCTU corridors without any mandate. So who is he representing at ZCTU?
What Chibhebe did with these elections is that he went with illegible candidates to Congress and worse, with no register of voters. What bigger rigging can there be than that? And what more shame can there be on Zimbabwean workers than being represented by individual fortune seekers who don’t have their mandate?
It is a known and tired fact that Chibhebe has been running one of the worst patronage systems at ZCTU where blue eyed boys and friends enjoyed a lot of ill-gotten benefits. He grabbed a prado vehicle meant for an HIV and Aids programme and made it his personal car. He left the ZCTU $500 000 in the red. He insisted on keeping Lucia Matibenga as vice president, despite a High Court order that bars the woman from participating in ZCTU business.
Why should Matombo have kept such company if he is a principled trade unionist? Matombo is one of the greatest trade unionists in this country and has led a devastating industrial strike at the then PTC. He is now out of a job because of further industrial actions and the case of his dismissal has been in the courts for more than eight years now.
Chibhebe has no known trade union history. And wait until the jar of worms is opened! – ANON., ¬by e-mail
Post published in: Letters to the Editor