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ZCTU Stayaway 25 February - Update
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
February 27, 2004

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) organized a stayaway on 25 February 2004 in protest over the following;

1) To urge responsible authorities to stop the rot at the National Social Securtiy Authority - Workers and Pensioners are getting a raw deal at NSSA. Benefits are very low and NSSA has only made public Audited accounts and reports for 1998-2000 only last month while the ZCTU has been asking for these reports for a long time. NSSA has operated with an Acting General Manager for three years now and it is a wonder why a substantive General Manager has not been employed. The ZCTU has time and again tried to have an audience with the NSSA board but the board Chairman has always been evasive and up to now the ZCTU is still in the dark with the operations at NSSA. In a step to register its displeasure the ZCTU withdrew its representatives from the NSSA board in January but the move was met with scorn from the Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare who responded by reminding ZCTU that they have no legal standing in the NSSA board and they cannot withdraw any members as members are appointed by the Ministers. The ZCTU though still insists that the board members are withdrawn as they were recommended by the ZCTU. The ZCTU also believes that the NSSA funds were exposed to the money market hence the deliberate delay in audits and annual reports hence it will still press ahead with demands for professionalism at NSSA.

2) The ZCTU was also demanding the immediate reinstatement of Lovemore Matombo, the ZCTU President who was dismissed from work (ZIMPOST) after attending the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity Congress in Sudan without approval from management. Mr. Matombo was first charged with misconduct when he was accused of allegedly disrupting a Board meeting with some of his Trade Union Colleagues on 11 December last year and the Board Chairman had instructed management to discipline the Trade Unionists. The dismissal of Matombo was done in an unprocedural manner, as the company code of conduct was not followed. Thus why the ZCTU feels that if there has to be action taken against Matombo proper disciplinary procedures have to be taken.

3) 41 Workers were suspended from Colcom and 2 workers were dismissed from David Whitehead in Chegutu for taking part in ZCTU organized demonstrations on high levels of Taxation and victimization of Trade Unionists in October and November last year. As it was a national protest the ZCTU believes that this was unfair and unprocedural and they have to be reinstated to their jobs.

With the above reasons, the ZCTU therefore embarked on a protest on 25 February to press the relevant authorities to act. Even though the stayaway was not wholly successful there are a lot of factors, which contributed to workers not staying away en masse.

In a pre-emptive strategy, Police in Bulawayo arrested four members of the ZCTU Western Region on 17 February on a rumour that the ZCTU was organizing a stayaway. The four were detained and interrogated for 8 hours before they were released and told that if anything happens (stayaway) they will be held responsible. The four were re-arrested on 25 February and held at the Police station for some hours before they were released. They were told to inform the police of any activities the ZCTU intend to embark on in the near future.

Then, on the day of the stayaway Police and members of the Central Intelligence organization in Chinhoyi and Masvingo visited some companies and had some meetings with managers where they told them not to close their business and also compile lists of all workers who would not have come to work.

In Beitbridge, one ZCTU activist was arrested for distributing flyers about the stayaway. He was not formally charged but the Police said the case would proceed by way of summons.

Meanwhile, in Norton 3 Workers are also facing dismissal after heeding the call for a stayaway. The workers are being charged for willful disobedience of lawful orders from the employer.

ZCTU Information Department

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