ZCTU Fights Take New Twist

A congress held in Bulawayo in August elected Japhet Moyo to take over from Wellington Chibebe as the new secretary general.

Chibebe left the ZCTU to join the International Trade Union Conference (ITUC) in Brussels after he was appointed deputy secretary general.

Veteran trade unionist George Nkiwane was also elected president of the country’s largest labour center to replace Lovemore Matombo.

But a faction led by Matombo is challenging the outcome of the elections saying they were fraudulent.

On Saturday, the group calling itself “the true Congress of Trade Unions which is made up of principled servants of democracy” will hold provincial congresses in Harare, Chinhoyi, Masvingo, Gweru, Bulawayo and Mutare.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to reiterate without equivocation that what took place in Bulawayo from the 19th to the 20th of August 2001 was a shocking electoral fraud that must be looked at in disdain by all genuinely patriotic Zimbabweans across the political divide, especially that it was done,” the ZCTU said.

“They can be likened to the 2007 predetermined June 27, 2008 one man race. “

Matombo’s faction unsuccessfully tried to stop the Bulawayo elections through a High Court application.

They accuse Matombo of imposing Moyo and Nkiwane but their rivals have dismissed them as bad losers.