Maravi

Miners accuse government of imposing Mukuka as union leader

Miners accuse government of imposing Mukuka as union leader
By Mwila Chansa-Ntambi
Mon 04 July 2011, 03:58 CAT

THE government allegedly wants to weaken the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) by imposing Charles Mukuka who is perceived to be a ruling MMD sympathiser as the union’s president.

And councillors at the MUZ supreme council meeting held at Katilungu House in Kitwe on Wednesday demanded that the election of the president be put on the agenda before they could proceed with the meeting.

Meanwhile, Mukuka, who is MUZ acting president, has observed that the exit of former MUZ president Rayford Mbulu had the potential to tear the union apart if people did not exhibit unity of purpose and selflessness.

Well-placed sources within the union told The Post that the government had hijacked MUZ elections and was working at ensuring that acting president Mukuka remains at the union’s helm.

“The thing is that after government hounded out Rayford from MUZ, the supreme council was supposed to elect a new president. The current general secretary Oswell Munyenyembe wanted to stand as president and he was favourite to win but Mukuka pulled a fast one on him,” the source said.

“We are aware that before this supreme council, the deputy general secretary and Mr Mukuka went to Lusaka and pushed that there should be no elections today so even as we were coming, we knew that there would be no elections.”

Another source disclosed that government officials allegedly threatened Munyenyembe that should he go ahead and stand as president, he would be hounded out of MUZ in the same manner that Mbulu was removed.

And during the official opening of the supreme council, councillors unanimously agreed that the election of the president be put on the agenda before the meeting could proceed.

When Munyenyembe called for the adoption of the agenda, a branch official observed that the election of the president was not appearing on the agenda.

“It will appear under number four, we received some correspondence from government,” Munyenyembe said.

But another branch official questioned why the item in question was not appearing when councillors had agreed during the central executive committee meeting that it would appear.

“…I hear you chairman and I agree with your views in totality but the council is at liberty to look at this issue. Let us leave it under correspondence,” he said.

It was not until Munyenyembe squeezed the item in question on the agenda that the councillors agreed to proceed with the meeting.

And in a speech, Mukuka said Mbulu’s exit from MUZ was one of the most unsettling situations ever experienced in organised labour in the mining industry.

“Let me hasten to say that the exit of Mr Mbulu continues to be a very serious challenge with the full potential to tear the union apart if we exhibit lack of unity of purpose, selflessness, focus and indeed tolerance,” Mukuka said.

He also said MUZ had not resolved to back any political party and that, therefore, no MUZ leader had the right to sway the union to their desired direction.

“But we shall continue to work with the government of the day, not the party of the day,” said Mukuka.

Meanwhile, the sources disclosed that the Labour Commissioner wrote to the MUZ council telling them that the elections would not be held due to ‘unforeseen’ circumstances.

Councillors resolved to write to the Labour Commissioner, asking him to state when the elections would be held.

The sources said it was the councillors’ general feeling that MUZ was going down because of government interference.

“Most councillors questioned why MUZ should be run from Lusaka. One of the councillors even said that government should know that miners had already made up their minds on who they are going to vote for,” said the sources.

Labels: MUZ, RAYFORD MBULU

posted by MrK @ 3:24 PM