Zimta pulls out of ZCTU

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) has pulled out of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) citing partisan politics within the biggest labour umbrella body.

With a total membership of over 40 000, the pull out of Zimta comes as a major blow to the ZCTU, currently struggling to raise meaningful union dues from its 32 affiliate unions.

The ZCTU has over the years been seen as an extension of the MDC, having birthed the country’s biggest opposition political party in 1999, with the then secretary-general, the late Morgan Tsvangirai, leaving his post to take up leadership of what was to be the fiercest opposition to Zanu PF led by former President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980.

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