Action for Southern Africa

Annual Conference Report

December 2007

Fighting for Democracy: Zimbabwe and Swaziland

Introduction

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

Democracy is a key campaigning area for ACTSA and the international trade union movement
and is a leading tenet behind development issues. Whilst Zimbabwe and Swaziland have had
very different experiences in recent years in their struggle for democracy, there are
undoubtedly 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 Kingdom
and the European Union and Zimbabwe and Swaziland. With the EU-AU summit taking place
in Lisbon in December 2007 this was the perfect opportunity to consider the views of leading
figures from the region with regards matters arising.

The participants of the delegation were Lovemore Matombo, President, Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Gugu Malindzisa, Deputy General Secretary, Swaziland
Federation 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, Gugu
Malindzisa, Kate Hoey MP and Ashling Wooton from NUS.

Swaziland

Gugu Malindzisa addressed the conference on the issues she faces as a pro-democracy
activist who is leading from the trade union movement. She described how the new
constitution in Swaziland has only made a few minor changes to the reality on the ground
and 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 poverty
line 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 the
government in considered unpatriotic and there is a lack of political will to stand up to the
government. The problems that Swaziland faces are cause by many factors; corruption and
abuse of office, a passive civil society, low expenditure on public health with x2 as much
being 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 is
39.6% but the health sector gets only a small % of the national budget when compared with
the 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. The
traditional 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 activists

are routinely stopped and searched without any legal rationale. The Police Union is denied
freedom of association – the president was recently dismissed from work with all other
leaders 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 many
injustices 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 fair
elections. 40% of MP’s are elected by the King. The political environment is hostile to civil
society

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

International relations: The British Foreign office is protecting Swaziland like they do in
Saudi Arabia – monarchies together. DFID has threatened to pull funding from Swaziland
because it is considered a middle income country. There is a need for solidarity towards
Swaziland now or else in 3 to 5 years it will become like Zimbabwe. Kate Hoey MP added that
Swaziland was often forgotten as it is such a small nation landlocked within South Africa. She
proposed an All Party Parliamentary Group in the UK government on Swaziland.

Zimbabwe

Lovemore Matombo addressed the conference on the current situation in Zimbabwe. Many of
the addressees were familiar with the crisis in Zimbabwe and Lovemore spoke about the
latest 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 land
redistribution took place it was not for the benefit of the average Zimbabwe it was to deflect
attention from the success of the MDC. 8% increase of women joining the affiliates of ZCTU
because of ACTSA’s 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 is
in 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 the
system. 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 making
politics secretive. A democracy is public. Mugabe funds a secret service of police around the
world yet there is no money for the health service. The head of state decreed all businesses
should cease wage negotiations for 6 months. 90% of Zimbabweans live below the poverty
datum line and 80% are unemployed. For the government to decree wage freezes was the
last straw; a national stay-away was held.

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

Development: MDG’s will not be achieved as standards of living have been dropping since
1998. 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 secrecy
and 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
not be implemented until after them. Some reforms to do with the succession were passed
but these weren’t the real issues; POSA, the restrictions on the media, the electoral process –
these haven’t been fully discussed. Without a free press, security law reforms and an
electoral review we cannot have free and fair elections.

Constitution: Constitutional issues affect the whole of the population and should not be
secret. Knowing ZANU PF’s selective application of the law, use of violence, the status quo for
next year’s elections means it is logical civil society says they are defaulted.

Kate Hoey MP added on Zimbabwe that she agrees with Brown’s stance on the Portugal
summit. She highlighted a quote from the Archbishop of York, ‘The British colonial past
should not be used as an excuse to do nothing.’ African leaders need to be addressed in a
less patronising manner. Amongst all the doom and gloom, COSATU remains as a beacon of
hope. The British have a right to be involved with the situation in Zimbabwe due to the large
number of Diaspora living in the country. In addition Britain is the largest donor of food aid to
Zimbabwe. United Nations handed over the problem to the African Union who handed it to
SADC 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 the
international community is watching it; it doesn’t want to be as exposed as in September
2006 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 to
meet 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. In
terms of ZCTU actions we are learning from the past, mindful of our failures and we don’t
want to pursue a course that doesn’t meet out objectives. We are considering whether
publicity or surprise is the best tactic. Until next year we are organising, focusing on
education and training so workers can confront the state. This is a long-term approach drawn
from what is happening in Burma, where no one thought the junta would be confronted. We
believe the political negotiations won’t reach us. The struggle will be long and painful and we
need 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?

It’s 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 last
remaining. The MDC’s mass support comes from the workers and they want to know why
trade unionists have been targeted. It has become a real problem and as we speak the MDC
is totally divided. Hopefully it’s problems will be resolved. I discussed the issue with Morgan
and it appeared Lucia had no problems but the leadership were falsely accusing her of
misappropriating funds. Tsvangirai has said the decision [to dissolve the Women’s Assembly
she headed] was made by the party’s executive and couldn’t be reversed. It is poor
judgement for the party to be divisive this close to the elections.

More information contact Simon Chase on simon.chase@actsa.org