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Who is . . . Morgan Tvsangirai?
Mercedes Sayagues
Trade union leader Morgan Tvsangirai, who has captured the hearts of many Zimbabweans, has emerged as President Robert Mugabe’s public enemy number one and a leading figure on Zimbabwe’s political scene.
With his simple lifestyle, casual, tie-less attire, easy laugh, straight talk and quick wit, Tsvangirai stands out in sharp contrast to the stale Zanu-PF leadership with their suits and ties and tired speeches.
He graphically sums up the mood in Zimbabwe: “The people say they are suffering and the government tells them to shut up.”
Yet he quickly dismisses any comparison with Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, who swept into office in 1990 on a wave of trade union activism: “That scenario is not applicable to Zimbabwe. I’m here to defend workers’ interests. This means discussing macro-economic issues, not only labour or social security matters. This means discussing change in the ways of government, and then the issue becomes political, but not because we are seeking office.”
It’s little wonder that, at a rally in Chitungwiza township in mid-February, Mugabe lashed out against Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) after the unions announced this week’s stayaway.
Mugabe was quoted as saying: “You have the misplaced belief that you are more powerful than the government. People must weigh themselves and see what they are good at. Some drive trains, some are foremen … People who witnessed the liberation struggle will not accept you [as leaders].”
Such class-conscious, arrogant remarks from a former Marxist and current Roman Catholic shocked many. An editorial in one independent newspaper reminded Mugabe of his own origins as a teacher, and of equality among citizens.
Tsvangirai shrugs it off: “At least a traindriver keeps the train on the tracks. The president has sunk very low. But some of his tantrums have to do with internal divisions within Zanu-PF.”
The leader of the war veterans, Chenjerai Hunzvi, who last year successfully pressured the government into making hefty payments to his former fighters, called the ZCTU “stooges and puppets” allied to white business. “He is paying back his masters,” retorts Tsvangirai, who doesn’t mince his words in spite of threats.
One evening last December, when Tsvangirai was working late in his spartan office on the 10th floor of a shabby building in downtown Harare, seven men attacked him. They fled when the secretary unexpectedly arrived. Tsvangirai lay unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Bludgeoned on the head, he needed five stitches. The attackers are still at large.
Tsvangirai believes the attack was ordered at high level. There are no more working late hours alone or leaving his car unattended, but there’s no toning down the pitch either: “We have been strengthened. You can remove leaders, but not the cause. This is class warfare, between the haves and have-nots.”
Workers’ demands include bringing down inflation and food prices, removing the recent 2,5% increase in sales tax to pay war veterans, a 5% development levy and a 15% tax on pension profits. The ZTCU also wants broad negotiations on the economy.
Salaries have lost 75% of their real value since 1980, while food prices have risen by 500%. At 38%of their salary, Zimbabweans are among the world’s most heavily taxed.
Tsvangirai has become a relentless critic of a government he describes as “top-down, centralised and not accountable to people. If state revenue is limited, so be the expenditure. Cut down on Mercs, Pajeros, ministers, embassies and perks. Stop corruption. Live within your means.”
Unlike opposition politicians, like Margaret Dongo, who are equally outspoken but have small constituencies, Tsvangirai has a huge following. The ZCTU, an umbrella of 27 unions, has 400 000 registered members – 30% of the formal labour force.
The ZCTU strike last December was heeded nationwide. A few days later, as news of the attack on Tsvangirai was made public, workers spontaneously downed their tools in protest. This week’s stayaway was widespread and peaceful.
In his 10 years at the helm of the ZCTU, it built up its autonomy, institutional capacity and leadership. Tsvangirai remembers a ZCTU that appeased the government, was dogged by corruption and poor administration, and which had little revenue from dues, its staff comprising one messenger and one economist. The first clash came in 1988/89, when the ZCTU called for pluralism and democracy, cutting its ties with Zanu-PF.
Accused of being a South African spy, Tsvangirai was in prison for six weeks, first in detention cells, then in the infamous Goromonzi prison. When the courts freed him, he was jailed again.
In the 1990s, economic liberalisation brought a stronger role for trade unions. Instead of wages being determined by the government, unions sat down to negotiate with employers. The ZCTU took off. The rest is history in the making.
Tsvangirai was born in Buhera, one of Zimbabwe’s driest and poorest southern districts. The oldest of nine children of a bricklayer father, he attended a Roman Catholic primary school. His political awakening came in 1965, when a teacher ran into the classroom shouting that then prime minister Ian Smith had declared independence.
At the Gokomere Mission High School he discovered newspapers, magazines and books. Reading history and biographies is now his only pastime.
In spite of good grades, he didn’t finish his O-levels. “As the first-born, with five brothers breathing down my neck, I had to work to help with their education.”
After starting work in 1972 at a textile mill in Mutare, he moved to a nickel mine in Bindura in 1974. As white men were being recruited for the bush war, some jobs reserved for whites opened to blacks. In 1975 Tsvangirai was made foreman, one of 12 chosen out of 700 candidates.
Earlier, in 1974, Tsvangirai and a friend crossed into Mozambique to join the liberation struggle, but lack of facilities forced them to return. His failure to take part in the struggle has been thrown in his face by Mugabe and Hunzvi. Tsvangirai acknowledges the respect owed to the struggle, but adds: “Those liberation credentials have been discredited by greed and property accumulation.”
His union career began in 1980, when he was used as a negotiator during a strike. In 1983 he was elected on to the executive of the mining union, then as vice-president in 1985, and as the ZCTU’s secretary general in 1988.
Tsvangirai lives with his wife and six children in a modest house with worn furniture in a middle-class neighbourhood. He drives a 1996 Mazda. His clothes are not Savile Row, but local department store, often rumpled. He is fond of saying “my brother, my friend” at press conferences. It’s a refreshingly different style of leadership in Zimbabwe.
Born: March 10 1952
Defining characteristics: Gifted public speaker; quick on his feet; good negotiator
Favourite people: Nelson Mandela, former guerilla chief Josiah Tongogara, Martin Luther King
Least favourite people: Those who are dishonest about where they stand
Likely to say: “It’s an occupational hazard”
Least likely to say: “I hate you, even if I disagree with you”