Category: Zimbabwe

We are ZCTU

Posted on by David Landon Cole

A little while ago, I wrote a post here and on the Wardman Wire called ‘Help Zimbabwe from your chair’.

We Are ZCTU: Defend unionists on trial in ZimbabweLovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe, respectively the President and General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions (ZCTU), were being charged with ’spreading falsehoods prejudicial to the state’. Those falsehoods are, in fact, criticisms they made on May Day of Mugabe’s government and telling the truth about the violence today in Zimbabwe.

The TUC, the UK equivalent of ZCTU, and ITUC, the international version, organised a mosaic depicting Lovemore and Wellington made up of faces of trades unionists from around the world. You can see it at WeAreZCTU.org. There are also tools to spread the word, add your support and to lobby for justice. There are model letters to send there as well.

xD.

Too little, too late

Posted on by David Landon Cole

The news that the UN Security Council has issued a statement condemning Robert Mugabe with the support of Thabo Mbeki’s South Africa is good news. After condemnation from Rwanda’s premier, Paul Kigame, and others, it seems that no-one in Africa, at least of any political substance, supports the Mugabe regime.

I think statements like this can make a difference. True, the protestations of the UK are batted away by Mugabe as propaganda from a would-be irredentist colonial power. It is much harder to dismiss that message if it comes from an African leader; the means by which some criticisms are deflected become useless. For such things to work, however, the criticisms need to reach the mass of the people. With no free press, poor electricity, hunger and flight across the country, it is of little surprise that the messages coming from Tshwane, Luanda and New York will not reach the people who need to hear them most.

Had Mbeki spoken out more forcefully while it could have made a difference, it might have encouraged Mugabe to leave. I may be being unfair; there was quiet diplomacy between Tshwane and Harare and it is impossible to know, until the history books are written, whether it was an idea that was never going to work or a gamble that didn’t pay off. It looks, though, like too little, too late.

xD.