Lois David of Woza Solidarity UK’s Reaction To George Ayittey
George Ayittey`s seems to have misunderstood Zimbabwe and its Trades Union movement in his comments on the recent ZCTU action. He says the demonstration was against high levels of taxation – is he right? I understood that it was against low wages and the fact that 80% of workers in Zimbabwe earn below the poverty datum line. He recommends stay aways rather than marches but does he know that stay aways have been tried before and that, with 80% of the population unemployed most have nothing to stay away from. .He says marches are a waste of time unless the security forces are neutral and professional or are on your side; does he know about the success of the WOZA marches – their aim is not regime change but empowerment of ordinary people and they are most definitely achieving their aim. Ayittey is certainly right about the need for alliances and joint efforts and his points about what Civil Service unions can do are worth noting but to call the ZCTU dumb is counter productive and wrong. Their action has gone a long way to discredit Mugabe`s claims that all opposition to his misrule is a result of western meddling. They will make it harder for South Africa to maintain its quiet diplomacy, harder for the AU to ignore the crisis in its midst and harder for other African leaders to support their so- called liberation hero.Ayittey should recognise that `regime change` doesn’t work – it may consolidate the power of aggressive states like America (engineers of dozens regime changes all over the world) but it doesn’t make much difference to the people. What Zimbabweans need is the right to earn a living wage and other basic human rights including freedom of association and freedom of speech. These rights have only ever been won by ordinary people gathering together to demand them through trades unions and other civic organisations.Keep marching Zimbabwe – and soon the government won`t be able to cope and our neighbours will no longer be able to ignore our plight.

ZimJournalists Arise Team Response
Lois and also ZimJournalists Arise Readers in case you may not be aware SW Radio Africa’s Violet Gondo’s interview with George Ayittey and Zimbabwean political analyst Brian Kagoro. We believe New Zimbabwe.com carried it as well