[ANALYSIS]: Lucien van der Walt, 1999, “Victory for Zimbabwean Workers?” (2)

Lucien van der Walt, December 1998, “Victory for Zimbabwean Workers?,” South African Labour Bulletin, volume 22, number 6, pp. 89-90.

Following from an earlier analysis (here) of the rise of the unions and other working class and peasant forces in Zimbabwe in the late 1990s, this piece examined a major – but contradictory – victory by labour the 1998-1999 year of struggle. A range of concessions were made, but these were mainly to do with Structural Adjustment costs; the state did not back down from its involvement in the Congo war, ZANU-PF’s de facto one-party regime, nor did the ruling class accept any limitations on its lavish lifestyle. It was also clear that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) did not have much in the way of an alternative to neo-liberalism… worse was to come.