'Workers bearing brunt of faction fights'

Zimbabwe's workers are bearing the brunt of faction fights in the country's main political parties as leaders expend their energies on consolidating their grip at the expense of dealing with the national economy, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has said.

Speaking during a labour forum in Harare last week, ZCTU president George Nkiwane said politicians in Zanu-PF and the MDCs were no longer concerned about the welfare of the people they purported to represent as they concentrated on securing positions in their respective parties.  

He said workers should rise up and take the lead in developing the country as politicians had proved incapable of taking the country out of its quagmire.

Nkiwane said while social partners had agreed on the Kadoma Declaration which had sound policies that would restore investor confidence, and given each other roles, its implementation had been stalled because the politicians in government were always in election mode.