Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions President Lovemore Matombo said Tuesday that his organization plans to engage the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on economic and labor issues.
Matombo said that as a party with roots in organized labor the Tsvangirai MDC was no longer following policies aligned with the aspirations of workers. He added that his trade union confederation also wants details on how the MDC will implement its policies.
The Movement for Democratic Change was spun off in 1999 from the ZCTU, of which Mr. Tsvangirai was secretary general at the time.
Matombo told VOA reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that his organization could have engaged all the parties in Zimbabwe's power-sharing government, but said it did not because it believes certain parties in the government - a reference to ZANU-PF - have persecuted workers.
Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said his party is ready to meet with the ZCTU leadership, noting that the prime minister's party at its congress last weekend in Bulawayo vowed to return to its founding principles.
