The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it is taken aback by the scorn and vitriol directed at it by trade unionist Raymond Majongwe. The ZCTU took exception to an article published in the Daily News (13 June 2011) in which Majongwe lashes out at the ZCTU leadership.
Majongwe who is the Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) is quoted as saying “the current leaders running the ZCTU have over stayed and are running out of ideas on how to administer the labour movement.”
Acting ZCTU Secretary General Japhet Moyo issued a statement “it has never been a culture in ZCTU for leaders to campaign for positions and to denounce each other in the press. It is our firm belief that members on the shop floor know what they want and know who is capable of delivering.
Moyo said Majongwe’s claims “are tantamount to cheap campaign posturing. Majongwe being a ZCTU General Council member is fully aware that the ZCTU has held its congresses after every five years according to the dictates of the organisation’s constitution. It is therefore deliberate misrepresentation on Majongwe’s part to say that the current leadership has overstayed.”
“The ZCTU leadership serve at the pleasure of the congress. For Majongwe to also claim that the leaders have run out of ideas is more like pointing a finger at himself because by virtue of him being a General Council member, Majongwe is in fact in the leadership of the ZCTU. Decisions at ZCTU are by popular vote or support.”
“Whilst Majongwe’s statements can be attributed to ignorance and school boy excitement due to the interest of running for the post of the Secretary General, we view the statements as reckless and irresponsible. In the article he further alludes to the fact that he has been labelled a member of the CIO, to us this is news and insightful as we have never heard the claims before.”
What Majongwe omits to mention however, is his public and zealous involvement in the COPAC exercise. He omits to mention how he ditched ZCTU in favour of COPAC only to quit towards the ZCTU Congress. Our members on the shop floor are not blind to such shenanigans. We think Majongwe should have been wise enough to maybe say what he is going to do differently than attacking the incumbent leadership,” Moyo added.
