The biggest single trade union in South Africa National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) says the President Emmerson Mnangagwa led ZANU PF has betrayed the revolutionary ethos and adopted violence as a means of holding on to power.
In a statement on Tuesday, NUMSA General-Secretary Irvin Jim said, "Zimbabwe is in the vicious grip of a failed liberation movement which has dumped the liberation vision just as the African National Congress (ANC) has done in South Africa. The only way Zanu-PF keeps hold of power is to unleash and sponsor violence against its own people."
The vocal Union leader was quoted by South African media saying the union was extremely irritated by the snail pace of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union-led by Ramaphosa in addressing the on-going Zimbabwean crisis. "They have failed to arrest the crisis. They have also failed to preserve democracy in Zimbabwe and protect human rights," he said. "There was a time when Zimbabwe was leading in providing quality education, access to healthcare, and access to land. Of course, the imperialist forces did all in their power to undermine the liberation struggle. They imposed sanctions to maintain their hegemony over Zimbabwe through other means.
"ZANU PF stopped being accountable to the working class and suffered the sins of incumbency. The direct consequences of the dictatorial tendencies of Zanu-PF led to the current crisis of a failed revolution. This most recent public outcry against the government and its agents of repression are a result of the ever-worsening economic and political conditions."
