COSATU calls Zim deal a ‘spreading virus’

By Alex Bell
17 September 2008

South Africa’s trade union federation COSATU has said the deal signed on Monday by Zimbabwe’s political rivals ‘marks a dangerous spread of the Kenyan virus,’ that sends a message to dictators that they can defy the will of the people.

The Zimbabwean deal will see Robert Mugabe remain as President, while winner of the March presidential elections, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai will become Prime Minister. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declared that Tsvangirai had not won by a large enough majority in the March poll – signaling an upsurge in politically motivated violence against MDC supporters in the run up to the highly disputed run-off vote.

A similarly violent situation in post election Kenya saw a government of national unity being formed – a government that the Zimbabwean power sharing deal has been widely compared to.

COSATU said in a statement on Wednesday that the signed agreement marks a retreat from the principles that the African Union and SADC are
supposed to uphold, and a ‘return to the bad traditions of the Organisation of
African Unity, that sacrificed the interests of the people to protect dictators.’

The federation said it gives the deal ‘cautious support,’ adding it was awaiting comments from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions as ‘it is only the people of Zimbabwe who must judge whether or not this deal is in their interests,’

COSATU’s national spokesperson, Patrick Craven told Newsreel on Wednesday that it is important that Zimbabweans ‘are the judges of the deal,’ but added that the federation is gravely concerned that certain demands have not been met. Craven explained that the deal ‘does not reflect the March elections’ in that the MDC has a ‘more junior role to that of ZANU PF.’ He also expressed concern that a ‘draconian legislation is still in force,’ which could see opposition leaders remain targets of violence and arrest.

Craven argued that these concerns are based on the demands made by civil society, and said at the ‘heart of our worries’ is that the public will is still being ignored. He said this sets a bad precedent for the future of the Zimbabwean government, as the will of the people urgently needs to be enforced. Craven added that Kenya, with its government of national unity, ‘set a very bad example’ in that there is a ‘shifting back’ to a situation where African leaders can turn their backs on atrocities being committed in their neighboring countries.

COSATU also said in Wednesday’s statement that it would wait for the go ahead from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions before continuing with the proposed programme of boycotts, saying ‘if they ask us to proceed we shall do so.’ The trade union federation had organised a mass boycott of goods headed for Zimbabwe as a form of protest against Mugabe’s continued term as President after the run-off election in June.