Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe has backed an ongoing strike by medical doctors as well as a go-slow at the country’s schools.
In a statement on Wednesday, issued by MDC secretary for information and publicity Nelson Chamisa, the party said that the strike is a vote of no-confidence in the ruling Zanu-PF regime.
“As a labour-backed party, the MDC supports the basic freedom of workers to engage in collective job action and to express their discontent. At the core of our social democratic philosophy is the respect of the working people and their inalienable right to demand a living wage and better working conditions.
“We stand in solidarity with the interests of the workers and the right to strike, which is not negotiable.”
“The strikes in the civil service and the time bomb of general disgruntlement in critical parastatals, the industry and the whole country reflect a vote of no-confidence in the Zanu-PF regime.”
Chamisa — who is from the larger Tsvangirai faction of the MDC — argued that the strikes reflect a rejection of the postponement of presidential elections (from 2008) to 2010, which underpins the current atmosphere of misery and looting, tyranny and oppression.
The strikes are the result of policies and systems that have “dismally failed” at a time when the people of Zimbabwe “desperately need efficient services in health, education and other critical sectors”. — I-Net Bridge