US embassy cable - 05HARARE671

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000671 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR BNEULING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVELLE, D. TEITELBAUM 
USDOC FOR ROBERT TELCHIN, TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW, 
PASS USTR FOR FLORIZELLE LISER, STATE PASS USAID FOR 
MARJORIE COPSON, US MISSION GENEVA FOR JOHN CHAMBERLIN, 
USDOL FOR ROBERT YOUNG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2009 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, ECON, ZI, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) 
SUBJECT: ZCTU CELEBRATES MAY DAY UNDER THREAT 
 
REF: HARARE 617 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Christopher Dell for reason 1.4 d 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (C) In their respective May Day campaigns, the Zimbabwe 
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) focused on poverty and taxes, 
while the GOZ-sponsored Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions 
(ZFTU) accused employers of purposefully causing shortages of 
basic commodities to stir civil unrest.  Even as the ZCTU 
General Council voted down a proposal by four renegade union 
leaders to change the ZCTU leadership, ZCTU Secretary General 
Wellington Chibebe expressed fears that the GOZ may arrest 
the entire leadership prior to the June ILO meeting in 
Geneva.  Meanwhile, the GOZ continues its attacks on the 
ZCTU, with 12 activists arrested in the week preceding May 
Day and continued GOZ-controlled newspaper articles calling 
for leadership change at the ZCTU. 
 
-------------------- 
May Day Celebrations 
-------------------- 
 
2. (C) In a May 2 conversation with EconOff, Chibebe called 
the ZCTU May Day rallies a success, with an estimated 
10-15,000 attendees in Harare, 2000 in Bulawayo, and smaller 
numbers in other towns throughout the country.  Chibebe also 
said that the crowd in Mutare shouted down renegade leaders 
of four unions attempting to change the ZCTU leadership (Ref 
A).  According to Chibebe, ZCTU speakers focused on raising 
wages above the poverty datum line (PDL), shifting tax 
brackets to ensure those earning under the PDL paid no taxes, 
and on GOZ accountability for AIDS levies and other levies on 
salaries.  In Bulawayo, he said Progressive Teachers, Union 
of Zimbabwe General Secretary Raymond Majongwe had led the 
rally and had denounced GOZ attempts to change ZCTU 
leadership and had called upon workers to focus on real 
issues and not GOZ gimmicks. 
 
3. (C) According to press reports, during the much smaller 
rival ZFTU May Day campaigns, President Alfred Makwarimba 
called for the GOZ to arrest anyone selling goods above 
gazetted prices, to exclude wage increases from inflation 
calculations, and to ask workers to inform on employers 
engaging in sabotage or hoarding to purposefully create 
shortages.  In a particularly Orwellian statement quoted 
verbatim by the official Herald newspaper, he asked the GOZ 
to &educate the nation (on) the meaning of the decline in 
the inflation rate vis--vis the escalating cost of goods and 
services in order for the workers to observe and appreciate 
the incremental improvements in their lives.8  (N.B. May Day 
was the first mention of the ZFTU -- a largely failed GOZ 
attempt to weaken ZCTU -- in the GOZ-controlled press since 
the fall of ZFTU Vice-President Joseph Chinotimba in the 
December 2004 Tsholotsho debacle.) 
 
----------------------------- 
GOZ Continues ZCTU Crackdown 
----------------------------- 
 
4. (C) Although no ZCTU activists were arrested on May Day, 
ZCTU Information Officer Mlamleli Sibanda confirmed press 
reports that Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) arrested twelve 
ZCTU activists in the preceding week.  Six ZCTU officials 
were arrested in Mutare on April 27 under the Public Order 
and Security Act (POSA) and later released. (N.B. The ZCTU is 
explicitly exempted from POSA.)  In Harare on April 28, six 
additional ZCTU activists were arrested and later released 
while commemorating World Day for Safety and Health at Work 
in a downtown Harare rally with public sector workers. 
 
5. (C) On April 23, according to Majongwe, a strong majority 
of the ZCTU General Council voted down a resolution from four 
renegade union leaders to change the ZCTU leadership (Ref A). 
 Nonetheless, he confirmed that an internal ZCTU 
investigation is continuing into the renegade leaders, 
financial and other allegations.  In addition, GOZ-controlled 
newspapers continued their call for workers to &reclaim the 
ZCTU from the political malcontents who hijacked it8 and to 
seek &sincere leaders who are truly committed to improving 
the welfare of the workers . . . and not just wage a 
pointless defiance campaign that only worsens the plight of 
workers.8 
 
6. (C) On May 5, Chibebe told EconOff that he feared that a 
Labor Ministry investigation could lead to the arrest of the 
entire ZCTU leadership and GOZ-imposed new leaders prior to 
the June ILO convention in Geneva.  He also asserted that the 
Chinese were funding the renegade unions as a favor to the 
GOZ. 
-------- 
COMMENT 
-------- 
 
7. (C) Although this year,s celebrations were smaller than 
in the past, the ZCTU,s ability to put on large-scale events 
in the current climate of post-election repression can still 
be considered a success.  Moreover, the failure of renegade 
unions to garner support from the General Council or the 
crowd in Mutare also bodes well for the current ZCTU 
leadership.  Nonetheless, Chibebe,s fears may not be 
misplaced.  The GOZ is continuing its anti-ZCTU efforts and 
financial and other allegations by the renegade unions could 
still provide the ammunition the Labor Ministry needs to 
interfere in internal ZCTU affairs.  We are especially 
concerned that former Minister for State Security Nicholas 
Goche has been given the Labor portfolio in his new capacity 
as Minister for Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare at 
a time when the GOZ is clearly targeting one of the few 
remaining independent mass-based organizations in Zimbabwe. 
DELL