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Action for Southern AfricaAnnual Conference Report

December 2007

Fighting for Democracy: Zimbabwe and Swaziland

Introduction

Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) organised a delegation of two high ranking trade unionleaders from Zimbabwe and Swaziland to the UK and Brussels, in order to promoteengagement in their pro-democracy struggles.

Democracy is a key campaigning area for ACTSA and the international trade union movementand is a leading tenet behind development issues. Whilst Zimbabwe and Swaziland have hadvery different experiences in recent years in their struggle for democracy, there areundoubtedly similarities in the ways in which democratic activism is repressed.

The purpose of the delegation was to further knowledge and understanding of the situations

in Zimbabwe and Swaziland and to facilitate international solidarity between United Kingdomand the European Union and Zimbabwe and Swaziland. With the EU-AU summit taking placein Lisbon in December 2007 this was the perfect opportunity to consider the views of leadingfigures from the region with regards matters arising.

The participants of the delegation were Lovemore Matombo, President, Zimbabwe Congressof Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Gugu Malindzisa, Deputy General Secretary, SwazilandFederation of Labour (SFL).

Conference brief

The conference examined the struggle for democracy in both Zimbabwe and Swaziland where

autocratic governance takes place. Keynote speakers were Lovemore Matombo, GuguMalindzisa, Kate Hoey MP and Ashling Wooton from NUS.

Swaziland

Gugu Malindzisa addressed the conference on the issues she faces as a pro-democracyactivist who is leading from the trade union movement. She described how the newconstitution in Swaziland has only made a few minor changes to the reality on the groundand went on to cover the sectoral battle they a facing, specifically looking at development,legal, governance, oppression and international issues.

Development: Swaziland is not a poor country yet 69% of people live below the povertyline which is a characteristic of a low income country, while the GDP in Swaziland is declining.The growth opportunities of the country have been squandered, however, questioning thegovernment in considered unpatriotic and there is a lack of political will to stand up to thegovernment. The problems that Swaziland faces are cause by many factors; corruption andabuse of office, a passive civil society, low expenditure on public health with x2 as muchbeing spent on the military and police and there are huge problems with infrastructure.300,000 people [of a population of about 1 million] live on food aid. The HIV/AIDS rate is39.6% but the health sector gets only a small % of the national budget when compared withthe military. Swaziland has a relatively low crime rate and no internal or external conflicts.

Law: The legal system has such a backlog that it is often considered unfeasible. Thetraditional system of village elders has in many ways prevented any kind of democracy or

criticism of the system.

Freedom: There is no freedom of information. Policing is used as a political too as activistsare routinely stopped and searched without any legal rationale. The Police Union is denied

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freedom of association the president was recently dismissed from work with all otherleaders arrested.

Governance: Swaziland is an absolute monarchy and has judicial and legislative powers,parliamentarians are stooges. The king owns over 70% of the land which has led to manyinjustices e.g. communities were evicted in 2003 for not paying money to his brother.

Opposition political parties are not allowed to put up candidates so there are no free and fairelections. 40% of MPs are elected by the King. The political environment is hostile to civilsociety

Trade Union movement: Swaziland Trade Unions Congress has split in two and civil societyhas fragmented. Trade Unions are allowed to strike but they have to be very careful whatthey say. There are 2 labour federations which represent 30% of workers but spend most oftheir time fighting amongst themselves. The authorities have infiltrated the unions and hindertheir merger. Constitutional reform came from trade union action but we are deniedrepresentation

International relations: The British Foreign office is protecting Swaziland like they do in

Saudi Arabia monarchies together. DFID has threatened to pull funding from Swazilandbecause it is considered a middle income country. There is a need for solidarity towardsSwaziland now or else in 3 to 5 years it will become like Zimbabwe. Kate Hoey MP added thatSwaziland was often forgotten as it is such a small nation landlocked within South Africa. Sheproposed an All Party Parliamentary Group in the UK government on Swaziland.

Zimbabwe

Lovemore Matombo addressed the conference on the current situation in Zimbabwe. Many ofthe addressees were familiar with the crisis in Zimbabwe and Lovemore spoke about thelatest oppressicve measures implemented by the government and what the future holds for

the country.

Trade Union movement: Trade Unions (TU) have a history of fighting for democracy e.g.in Zambia. Trade Unions are seen as Western and therefore have negative connotations.They were at the forefront to support land redistribution- however when the landredistribution took place it was not for the benefit of the average Zimbabwe it was to deflectattention from the success of the MDC. 8% increase of women joining the affiliates of ZCTUbecause of ACTSAs Dignity! Period campaign. The stay-aways are only affecting under 15%of the population because there are fewer than 800,000 people employed. Of these, a third isin the public sector, all of whom are members of a government union.

Governance: It is not good enough to fight for replacing people this will not change thesystem. The ZCTU have no current political affiliation they wish to restore democracy to the

country first. In Zimbabwe the government does not follow the rule of law. Mugabe is makingpolitics secretive. A democracy is public. Mugabe funds a secret service of police around theworld yet there is no money for the health service. The head of state decreed all businessesshould cease wage negotiations for 6 months. 90% of Zimbabweans live below the povertydatum line and 80% are unemployed. For the government to decree wage freezes was thelast straw; a national stay-away was held.

Economy: 50% price cuts without analysis and manufacturers went bust. The Zimbabwediaspora remittances are propping up the economy which would have otherwise collapsed.

Development: MDGs will not be achieved as standards of living have been dropping since1998. There is a lack of community cohesion yet the people must not remain quiet.

Mediation process: ZCTU is not privy to the talks; SADC instructed Mbeki to use secrecyand no publicity. No one understands the content of the negotiations, especially civil society.There was the expectation of constitutional reform before the elections but the changes will

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not be implemented until after them. Some reforms to do with the succession were passedbut these werent the real issues; POSA, the restrictions on the media, the electoral process these havent been fully discussed. Without a free press, security law reforms and anelectoral review we cannot have free and fair elections.

Constitution: Constitutional issues affect the whole of the population and should not be

secret. Knowing ZANU PFs selective application of the law, use of violence, the status quo fornext years elections means it is logical civil society says they are defaulted.

Kate Hoey MP added on Zimbabwe that she agrees with Browns stance on the Portugalsummit. She highlighted a quote from the Archbishop of York, The British colonial pastshould not be used as an excuse to do nothing. African leaders need to be addressed in aless patronising manner. Amongst all the doom and gloom, COSATU remains as a beacon ofhope. The British have a right to be involved with the situation in Zimbabwe due to the largenumber of Diaspora living in the country. In addition Britain is the largest donor of food aid toZimbabwe. United Nations handed over the problem to the African Union who handed it toSADC who gave a feeble report to Mbeki and this is where we stand today.

Questions to Lovemore:

What would it be useful for British people and Trade Unions to do?

Moral support in terms of solidarity messages to the government. The government feels theinternational community is watching it; it doesnt want to be as exposed as in September2006 and March 2007.

Is it a priority to get the message across to the rest of Africa?

Most of our tasks are in Africa, some of our colleagues still believe we are a political

organisation, but many now realise we face authoritarian rule. We have limited capacity tomeet with people, especially in the sub-region.

What effect have the emergency actions had?

There was a tremendous UK response to the 2006 beatings, especially from individuals. Interms of ZCTU actions we are learning from the past, mindful of our failures and we dontwant to pursue a course that doesnt meet out objectives. We are considering whetherpublicity or surprise is the best tactic. Until next year we are organising, focusing oneducation and training so workers can confront the state. This is a long-term approach drawnfrom what is happening in Burma, where no one thought the junta would be confronted. Webelieve the political negotiations wont reach us. The struggle will be long and painful and weneed now to create the cadreship to have a critical mass that can challenge the

establishment.

What has been happening with Lucia Matibenga in the MDC?

Its hard to know exactly what happens in the MDC, I can only offer an external perspective.Most workers had been squeezed out of the MDC leadership and Lucia was one of the lastremaining. The MDCs mass support comes from the workers and they want to know whytrade unionists have been targeted. It has become a real problem and as we speak the MDCis totally divided. Hopefully its problems will be resolved. I discussed the issue with Morganand it appeared Lucia had no problems but the leadership were falsely accusing her ofmisappropriating funds. Tsvangirai has said the decision [to dissolve the Womens Assemblyshe headed] was made by the partys executive and couldnt be reversed. It is poor

judgement for the party to be divisive this close to the elections.

More information contact Simon Chase onsimon.chase@actsa.org