The Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) expulsion from Zimbabwe this week has triggered a wave of protest among South African civil society organisations, church groups and youth organisations riled by the African National Congress’s policy of “quiet diplomacy”.
This week 12 civil society organisations met in Johannesburg to formulate plans to mobilise mass-based protests in South Africa against the Mugabe regime.
The move coincided with a decision by Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to take part in parliamentary elections on March 31.
Paul Themba Nyathi, MDC secretary for information, said: “We participate under protest … we participate to keep the flames of hope for change alive.”
Elinor Sisulu, chairperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said “it’s time to bring moral pressure on the South African government”.
On Wednesday civil society organisations, including the South African National NGO Coalition (Sangoco), Amnesty International, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa and several umbrella church and youth organisations forged a united front called the Zimbabwe Solidarity and Consultative Forum.
“Increasingly those of us who have a heart for Zimbabwe and want to see change feel we have to mobilise civil society and the church, and not rely on the South African government to make change,” said Bishop Rubin Phillips of the South African Council of Churches.
Mandla Seopela, deputy general secretary of the South African Students Congress, said: “We condemn Mugabe with the utmost contempt. If the South African government doesn’t move on the matter, we will.”
On Wednesday Harare International airport’s immigration desk handed the 20-member Cosatu team deportation papers after the team arrived to meet the Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions in a move to investigate the plight of Zimbabean workers. It was the second deportation in three months.
The rift between Cosatu and the ANC is the first on a foreign policy issue. In November last year, after Cosatu’s first abortive mission, the ANC slammed the union as “irresponsible”. The ANC appeared to back this week’s visit, but has remained mum since the organisation’s ejection. ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama denied the ANC would meet Zanu-PF to discuss Cosatu’s deportation.
“We are in continuous talks with Zanu-PF on a range of issues. We won’t meet specifically on Cosatu’s expulsion,” Ngonyama said. “There is a meeting with the alliance [expected next week] where we will handle the issue.”
Some believe Cosatu should direct its energies to mobilising South Africans against Robert Mugabe’s regime. Other stakeholders argue that Cosatu’s two expulsions have been a public relations coup for Zimbabwe’s downtrodden masses.
“Every time Cosatu is kicked out it shows the extent of fascism in that country,” commented Sangoco spokesperson Hassen Lorgat.
Added Sisulu: “Cosatu are heroes among ordinary Zimbabweans. The sense we are getting from Zimbabwe is that the people really, really appreciate Cosatu putting itself on the line.”
However, Venitia Govender of the lobby group Zimbabwe Liaison Office said she was realistic about the difficulties of mobilising mass support. “There is not enough anger and passion among people in South Africa about what is happening to their neighbour. It’s going to be an uphill battle to get people to express their solidarity.”
Sisulu concedes the formation of the new coalition is “too little, too late”
for the March 31 election, but says the vision is long-term. “We will build up momentum over time.”
‘Cosatu was right’
South African workers appear appalled by the treatment meted out to leaders of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) workers by the Zimbabwean government. Interviewed by the Mail & Guardian, most said they supported Cosatu and believed Zimbabwe’s problems were spilling over into South Africa, writes Fikile-Ntsikilelo Moya.
Isaac Thabede, a South African Electrical and Allied Workers’ Union member, said “everybody” knew there was poverty and hardship in Zimbabwe. “The Zimbabwe government treated the Cosatu comrades very badly. Cosatu did not go there for its own needs, it went there to help find a solution. They should have been allowed in.”
His colleague, Collin Mzinyane, said Cosatu’s stance was the union’s contribution to fighting for “freedom in Zimbabwe”. “Freedom does not arrive easily; it has to be worked for.” He added: “We work with or are competing for jobs with Zimbabweans, so we know about the problems there. We know why they left their country and settled here.”
Paulos Maphasa, however, disagreed with Cosatu’s action, saying it should concentrate on local labour issues and forget about politics in foreign countries.
Jackson Moshidi, a driver with a courier company, said: “I deliver around Southern Africa, and I’ve met Zimbabweans wherever I’ve been. They all say they are in foreign countries because they hope for a better life. Zimbabwe’s problems have affected other countries in the region.”