By Tendai Matunhu
The much publicised week long stay away by Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) has dismally flopped as members and affiliates have lost appetite in demonstrations which they say do not yield anything, the Harare Post reports.
According to a contact within the ZCTU who preferred anonymity, the labour union`s Secretary General, Japhet Moyo had dispatched a communique to affiliate organisations instructing them to mobilise people for a week-long stay away which was scheduled to start on 2 December 2019. However, not even a single affiliate organisation complied with Moyo’s instructions.
The contact further revealed that the stay away had no buy-in from the ZCTU executive members who were accusing Moyo of pandering to the whims of foreign handlers. He said the executive members further accused Moyo of being pushed by the United States (US) Embassy to organise the stay away.
The contact further revealed that the executive members accuse Moyo of not consulting them.
According to the contact, the US Embassy had availed funds to Moyo to organise the stay away which they wanted to appear as if it was not a politically motivated.
Contact said, “Moyo sent a message on a WhatsApp group instructing executive members to report to the ZCTU Headquarters for a video recording to mobilise people through social media. Out of the eight members, only two, Deputy Secretary General Thomas Masvingwe and Lovemore Ngwarati, mockingly responded, but not even a single person went to the Headquarters for the video shoot.
“The executive members then opened another WhatsApp group where they agreed to snub the meeting,” said the source.
There have been consented efforts by the West to force people into the streets. However, Zimbabweans no longer have appetite because most of the MDC planned demonstrations have not yielded anything. The West is taking advantage of the economic challenges to whip up people’s emotions.
However, people have increasingly become aware that the sanctions are causing the challenges they are facing. That explains why most people turned up for the anti-sanctions march.
The West is also trying to use demonstrations to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the negotiating table for a Government of National Unity (GNU). US Ambassador Brian Nichols recently told this publication that GNU was the only solution for Zimbabwe.
