ZIMBABWE’S workers are bearing the brunt of faction fights in the country’s main political parties as leaders expend their energies on consolidating their grip at the expense of dealing with the national economy, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has said.
Christopher Mahove OWN CORRESPONDENT
Speaking during a labour forum in Harare last week, ZCTU president George Nkiwane said politicians in Zanu PF and the MDCs were no longer concerned about the welfare of the people they purported to represent as they concentrated on securing positions in their respective parties.
He said workers should rise up and take the lead in developing the country as politicians had proved incapable of taking the country out of its quagmire. “Those in Zanu PF are pre-occupied with factionalism rocking the party, the same at the MDC and in the Renewal Team. They are no longer concerned about national development.
“So we are saying as workers, let us spearhead national development because that is where we will get our jobs. It is high time we should not trust anyone to deal with our problems,” he said.
Nkiwane said while social partners had agreed on the Kadoma Declaration which had sound policies that would restore investor confidence, and given each other roles, its implementation had been stalled because the politicians in government were always in election mode.
“We agreed on policies that would reduce the country risk factor, but there has been no movement because our partners are always on election mode. So it is now up to workers to demand tangible results. We must make things happen right here in Zimbabwe because we have nowhere to run to,” he said.
He said workers needed to be conscious of the class, and start demanding a developmental state which was not afraid of its people, adding that the decimation of the middle class was by design because it was a vital cog for change.
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Nkiwane said while classes could not be the same, all interests should be protected by the laws of the country, adding that workers were duty-bound to force the government to serve the interests of its citizenry because they were at the receiving end.
Nkiwane also revealed that the ZCTU would continue to engage the MDC-T as it was a congress resolution which could not be changed now.
