Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Peter Mutasa has condemned President Emmerson Mnangagwa for allegedly failing to unite a divided nation whose economic fortunes have deepened in the face of continued polarisation.<\/p>\n
In a statement to mark Workers Day on Friday, Mutasa dismissed Mnangagwa’s half-hearted attempt to initiating dialogue among Zimbabweans through a grouping of less influential politicians coalescing under the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD).<\/p>\n
The firebrand unionist said nothing less than genuine dialogue among Zimbabweans was going to salvage the country from its current economic abyss.<\/p>\n
Mutasa said it was time the country’s leaders placed the welfare of ordinary workers and their families top of the priority list starting with sincere dialogue.<\/p>\n
“We remain concerned about the high degree of polarisation in Zimbabwe and this continues to pull the nation backwards,” Mutasa said.<\/p>\n
“There is no substitute for dialogue if we are to solve our political problems.<\/p>\n
“It must not be just dialogue, but inclusive dialogue and we believe that the current political dialogue is inadequate and not inclusive enough.”<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa is under pressure to initiate talks with MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa, whose party is well represented in parliament and commands significant following among ordinary Zimbabweans.<\/p>\n
It is strongly believed anything outside the two most influential politicians in the country coming together would save the nation from its current economic mess.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa has told the nation before that he was not going to hire earthmovers to pull Chamisa to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
Chamisa insists, by roping in less influential politicians into his dialogue platform, Mnangagwa was not yet sincere on finding a lasting solution to the country’s myriad problems.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in his statement, Mutasa accused government of short-changing workers especially during the current period in which Covid-19 threatens livelihoods.<\/p>\n
“We could not allow workers to die for profits in the face of Covid-19,” he said.<\/p>\n
“However, we are disappointed that despite our advice to the government and business on the need to avail social safety nets for citizens during these difficult times, nothing has materialised.”<\/p>\n
Mutasa said government has ignored the labour group’s advice the $200 paid to poor households as allowances to cushion them against the impact of the lockdown was way too little in a country whose Food Poverty Line stood at above $2 000 as of December 2019.<\/p>\n
The ZCTU leader also condemned government for destroying market stalls for vendors and informal traders without putting in place mechanisms to allow the affected to recover when the lockdown ends.<\/p>\n
He also questioned why other citizens were still able to get 2 000 hectares of land when the housing backlog still stands way above a million, 40 years after the country attained independence.<\/p>\n
This year’s Workers Day commemorations were held under the theme, “Stop Covid-19 Pandemic, Scale up Social Protection and Dialogue, Save Jobs and Pay a Living Wage”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Peter Mutasa has condemned President Emmerson Mnangagwa for allegedly failing to unite a divided nation whose economic fortunes have deepened in the face of continued polarisation. In a statement to mark Workers Day on Friday, Mutasa dismissed Mnangagwa’s half-hearted attempt to initiating dialogue among Zimbabweans through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[34,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-22656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-emmerson-mnangagwa","10":"tag-zctu"},"yoast_head":"\n