South Africa January 2005 |
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| Butt out, Zimbabwe tells Cosatu, (Business Day, 2005-01-21):-The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been put firmly in its place by Zimbabwe's Labour Minister Paul Mangwana, who told this "animal called Cosatu" to mind its own business and stop treating Zimbabwe as a province of SA. In comments published this week in the Financial Gazette, Mangwana said Cosatu was overstepping its brief in wanting to stage a second fact-finding mission, after its envoys were unceremoniously deported from Zimbabwe three months ago. "Really, what is the problem of this animal called Cosatu? We are not a province of SA and, as such, Cosatu should confine its labour politics to that country Cosatu should stay in SA. "We have our own labour unions and I don't think we need foreign labour unions to solve our problems," he said. President Robert Mugabe's government deported a 13-strong Cosatu fact-finding team last year, saying it was pursuing a "political agenda" after it arranged to meet with civic groups. Upon arrival at Harare International Airport on October 27, the federation's delegates were bundled into buses and driven to the border overnight. The botched trip caused a war of words between Cosatu and the African National Congress, after the trade union body criticised President Thabo Mbeki's refusal to publicly criticise Mugabe. Lovemore Matombo, the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said it would be an "unfortunate political stance" if Cosatu was snubbed a second time. "Cosatu is harmless They want to come and here and see the environment in which we are working it is a norm among labour union movements to visit each other without any hindrances," he said. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |