As Zimbabwe Heads to the Polls
As Zimbabwe heads to the polls for parliamentary and presidential elections in two days, the country is again poised for another tightly contested and controversial struggle for popular support between those seeking to transition the country to multi-party democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights and an entrenched security and political establishment led by an aging autocrat, Robert Mugabe, seeking to hold on to the spoils of power.
Despite multiple instances of pre-election fraud on the part of the country’s longtime ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), many voters are hopeful the country’s halting transition to democracy will be accelerated again, despite over a decade of steady economic withering and major instances of electoral fraud and violence in the 2008 elections.
Yet among conditions of continuing job loss and social polarization, the endurance of Zimbabwe’s workers and vocal civil society have been nurtured and assisted by the country’s independent trade union movement. In a new report by the AFL-CIO, the role of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in taking on the country’s political establishment and creating space for political dialogue and pro-worker policy reform is detailed. Beginning with Zimbabwe’s lurch into steady economic decline and outright authoritarian rule in the 1990s, the report shows how a concurrence of events—popular discontent with massive job losses and public service cuts, union resistance to political control by the ZANU-PF and increasing attacks on union leaders and other civil society players—led to the creation of the country’s first post-independence opposition movement, called the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by then-ZCTU Secretary General Morgan Tsvangirai.
While MDC parties continue to operate and contest elections, the ZCTU has remained notably vocal and independent in its support for workers’ rights— particularly during the current unsteady coalition government between the ZANU-PF and two MDC parties. For nearly two decades, the labor movement has weathered physical, political and financial attacks on its members, leaders and affiliated unions, all the while being a critical voice for workers both in Zimbabwe’s declining formal sector and for workers and their communities in the booming informal economy. Through its affiliates and allied organizations, the ZCTU is again implementing not only a civic education and get-out-the-vote strategy to encourage workers’ to engage on Wednesday, but also has built the groundwork of a number of public institutions, such as the country’s labor relations board, that the union federation hopes will focus post-election policymaking on job creation and rebuilding the country’s once-strong infrastructure and manufacturing base.
Analysts in and outside Zimbabwe have tremendous doubts as to whether Wednesday’s polls can be truly free and fair because of the short time for preparation and accounts of vote suppression and rigging. And many worry about a return to the violent voter-suppression of 2008’s presidential run-off or deep instability in case of disputed results. Yet many, including ZCTU Secretary General Japhet Moyo remain optimistic, giving a nod to the notable resilience of the country’s workers, “There’s still great hope in communities. Like at independence in 1980, or when we first had a choice at (constitutional) polls in 2000. There’s a feeling of change.”
