AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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The LRA allows for the formation of multiple national labor federations. The
ZCTU is the oldest and most powerful labor federation; however, the Government
openly targeted the ZCTU by announcing that the ZCTU was a political organization
and declaring it aligned with the opposition MDC. Under the restrictive POSA,
the Government claimed the right to have police members present during ZCTU’s
meetings—even those at the executive level—by claiming these private meetings to
be ‘‘public meetings’’ banned under the Act. During the year, ZCTU successfully
challenged this interpretation in court and no longer was required to inform the police
of its meetings and allow plainclothes police to attend.
On February 16, government youth militia members abducted ZCTU council
member Ephraim Tapa and his 5-month pregnant wife Faith from a roadside canteen
approximately 100 miles north of Harare. The Tapas were accused of supporting
the opposition and held for almost 1 month in different locations, during
which time Mr. Tapa was beaten frequently, at least once to the point of unconsciousness.
They overheard their captors plotting their killing; however, police rescued
them in the Mushimbo area near the border with Mozambique.
The ZCTU continued to criticize violence directed at agricultural workers who live
and work on commercial farms. Many of these agricultural workers were members
of GAPWUZ, which was affiliated with the ZCTU.
The Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) was led by its vice president
Joseph Chinotimba, the ‘‘war veteran’’ and self-styled leader of the 2000 farm invasions
and 2001 factory invasions, who continued to disrupt relations between workers
and their union leadership. In addition to arbitrarily guaranteeing wage increases
and new benefits absent any agreement by employers, the ZFTU used a variety
of coercive methods to convince workers to join its ranks. There were credible
reports that ZFTU activists threatened to physically attack workers or publicly
mark them as opposition supporters. In order to ‘‘persuade’’ them to change their
labor union allegiance, the ZFTU at times sent armed gangs to force workers out
of bed during the night to chant ZANU-PF slogans and prove their allegiance to the
party.
The ZFTU increased its presence on several fronts during the year, and worked
closely with ZANU-PF to undermine the ZCTU. ZANU-PF/ZFTU sponsored a second
set of May Day commemorations intended to overshadow the traditional ZCTU
workers’ day celebrations. In many cities throughout the country, including Harare,
the public venues normally rented by the ZCTU were coopted by the ZFTU. The politically
charged alternative ZFTU gatherings decreased attendance at ZCTU celebrations;
however, attendance at most ZFTU events was low as well. The ZCTU’s
Harare commemoration occurred without incident, despite a heavy police presence
and subsequent ZANU-PF denunciations that it was a ‘‘political rally.’’
The ZFTU also was responsible for confrontations involving the agricultural sector.
During the year, the Government passed Statutory Instrument 6 (SI6), which
was perceived widely as an attempt to bankrupt and dispossess white commercial
farmers. Under SI6 commercial farmers whose farms were acquired compulsorily
were required to pay all of their farm laborers terminal benefits or ‘‘retrenchment
packages,’’ including severance benefits, payment for accrued leave, bonuses, and a
‘‘gratuity.’’ These packages were fixed by law in a formula that depended on the
number of years worked by each employee, with some packages reaching in excess
of $724 (Z$500,000). According to SI6, if the farmer did not have funds to finance
the retrenchment packages, he could pay half immediately and postpone the remainder
until, or if, he received compensation for the improvements on the land
from the Government, but only with the consent of their labor force. However, the
agricultural workers, who were left impoverished by the land redistribution program,
virtually never gave permission to delay payment of the retrenchment package.
The ZFTU, under the personal leadership of Chinotimba, successfully capitalized
on the fears of the labor force by instigating hostile confrontations with farmers,
in some instances barricading farmers inside their homes and demanding liquidation
of any available asset to fund immediate payout of the retrenchment package.
This also happened on farms that had not received final acquisition orders. In
most cases, the ZFTU officials who orchestrated these confrontations collected between
30 and 40 percent from each retrenchment package as their ‘‘fee.’’
The LRA prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers against union members.
Complaints of such discrimination were referred to labor relations officers and subsequently
adjudicated by the Government’s Labor Relations Tribunal (LRT). Such
complaints were handled under the mechanism for resolving cases involving ‘‘unfair
labor practices.’’ The determining authority may direct that workers fired due to
antiunion discrimination should be reinstated, although this was not utilized in
practice.
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