SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU mission to Zimbabwe on, say labour leaders

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 24 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) remains firm in its intention to send a new fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe, despite official warnings that such a delegation would not be welcome.

Last week COSATU said the situation in Zimbabwe was critical, as the present legal and political situation was not conducive to holding free and fair elections, due in March, and alleged that labour unions were being suppressed.

The country has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, resulting in a steady erosion of household purchasing power. New laws restricting freedom of association and freedom of the press have also been heavily criticised.

A COSATU delegation was deported from Zimbabwe in October last year, on allegations that their mission was more political than labour-related. An application for permission to send another fact-finding mission was turned down last week.

In a joint communique with Wellington Chibebe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), COSATU secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said a delegation would be sent to Zimbabwe by the first week of February, in a show of solidarity with workers in Zimbabwe.

"A delegation should be sent to Zimbabwe, so that the unions of the two countries can debate the trade union situation in Zimbabwe," Vavi explained.

Chibebe said workers had been badly affected by worsening political, human rights and economic crises; the ZCTU supported COSATU's decision to send another fact-finding delegation to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's minister of public service, labour and social welfare, Paul Mangwana, told IRIN that COSATU would not be allowed to use union issues to cover a mission meant to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. "The nature of the COSATU mission is political," he claimed.

"South African labour unions do not govern or influence labour issues in Zimbabwe. COSATU wants to gain cheap mileage by traversing their activity boundaries - they should limit their activities to South Africa. We have active labour unions in Zimbabwe, and anyone who says they are not being allowed to function is talking absolute nonsense," Mangwana charged.

"As the responsible minister, I can confirm that the labour situation in Zimbabwe is normal. We are in contact with unions, and I have not received any complaints from them. We are negotiating with them [and business], including the same ZCTU that makes all these claims, in the Tri-partite Negotiating Forum."

He added that the ZCTU was free to have relations with regional and international unions, as long as these relations were confined to labour issues.

Daniel Molokela, a Johannesburg-based political analyst and coordinator of the NGO, Peace and Democracy Project of Zimbabwe, said COSATU had every reason to be concerned with the situation across South Africa's northern border, but thought it unlikely that the Zimbabwean authorities would tolerate a second COSATU delegation.

"I foresee a repeat of the [October 2004] deportation affair if COSATU goes into Zimbabwe without state permission. However, I do not see the need for a visiting union to seek government clearance to visit a fellow union. The government of Zimbabwe has always maintained that it has nothing to hide, and anyone who wants to verify can visit and check. Denying COSATU the right to verify the situation shows that there is a lot that is still hidden right now," Molokela remarked.

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