From The Zimbabwe Standard, 28 April

Workers forced to join ZFTU

The vice-president of the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), Joseph Brown Chinotimba, has intensified raids on firms suspected of having links with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, The Standard has learnt. Sources within ZFTU told The Standard last week that the trade union, believed to be an affiliate of Zanu PF, was forcing workers to obtain stop order forms so they could pay subscriptions to the union ahead of the May Day celebrations. Said the sources: "The ZFTU is targeting companies affiliated to the Zimbabwe Chemicals and Plastics and Allied Workers Union. The ZFTU has so far stormed more than five companies, which include Barco Chemicals in Mutare, Plastic Industries, Marine Center, Surgimed Trading and Omni Fertilizers. They harassed anyone not complying with their demand to sign stop order forms for affiliation with the ZFTU," said one worker from Marine Centre who refused to be named. Workers from other affected companies also confirmed that they had been harassed by officials of the ZFTU.

Contacted for comment on Friday, Chinotimba confirmed that his union was forcing the signing of stop orders by those workers who were "failing to understand that the ZFTU is now the only trade union capable of representing them". Added Chinotimba: "We were given the mandate to do so by government. I want to tell you, we are the current government. We have to talk to the workers but if they stand in our way we will be forced to make them dance to our tune. If they want to remain with the ZCTU then they should go to other countries and not stay in Zimbabwe. They should wake up and realise that we are the only recognised trade union in this country." The MDC was borne out of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, whose secretary-general was MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai. Sources close to the union told The Standard last week that the ZFTU, widely believed to be an off-shoot of Zanu PF, had been attacking mostly privately-owned companies. An executive with the Zimbabwe Chemicals and Papers Allied Workers Union also confirmed recent visits by ZFTU. "I can confirm that we have been receiving complaints from our workers. They are going around with stop order forms and threatening to beat anyone not wanting to sign," said the official who declined to be named for fear of victimisation.

From The Zimbabwe Standard, 28 April

Tuku Sends London Fans Wild

It can be described as the London - Great Zimbabwe get together. They converged at Stratford, London, last Saturday from almost every city - Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham - just to watch Oliver Mtukudzi perform. They started gathering as early as ten in the morning and by 2pm, there were hundreds of revellers eager to see the superstar who was on his way to the United States, where he was to perform at the Let Freedom Sing! benefit concert whose objective, among others, is to help set up a fund for the families of Zimbabwean musicians who died of Aids. By six, the numbers had swelled such that the venue could not accommodate any more people. Those who, including me, could not get inside were not very disappointed because we could hear the music, and we danced the night away.

Oliver came on stage around nine. And for four hours, he churned out his golden oldies which are still liked by most people here. His Wasakara is still a gem which is capable of sending people wild. However, his new album,Vhunze/Moto, did not quite impress the people who were hearing it for the first time. Mtukudzi's shows in London are always well attended with people coming from all over the United Kingdom. Most of the time he stages one show, something which Zimbabweans here say is not enough, and that more shows should be staged in other cities. A sister from Manchester said that she had travelled all the way only to hear him from a distance. "I wanted to be in there, man," she said, adding that Tuku's organisers should make every effort to cater for every Zimbabwean in the United Kingdom. Another Zimbabwean from Leeds, who said that he had not seen Oliver performing before, was impressed by the way Oliver danced and sang. "He is a real entertainer," he said. Mtukudzi is scheduled to stage 23 shows in New York and various other cities from April 24 to 27 May.

To millions of Zimbabweans, Mtukudzi's lyrics are nothing less than the teachings of a Shona prophet, and the inferences they draw are clear: Zimbabwe is burning and Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party will soon have to suffer the backlash. For Mtukudzi, though, there are no such simple interpretations. "I'm not a politician, I don't understand politics," he says. "My songs are about what I see around me, the happiness and sadness in my country. I don't believe in singing for a particular time. My songs should mean something yesterday, today and tomorrow." Mtukudzi never openly refers to politics in his work, nor does he openly criticise Zimbabwe's leadership. Instead, he uses Shona imagery and African parables to tell stories that his listeners can interpret for themselves.

On Yave Mbodza (What Kind of Rearing is That?) Mtukudzi asks why the ancient Shona practice of a parent chewing traditional root medicine and passing it on to a baby is no longer followed. On the surface, it is a simple morality tale. Look deeper, say his fans, and Tuku, as they like to call him, is singing about the corruption of the ageing generation of Zanu PF rulers who are keeping all the goodness of the country for themselves. "Oliver is an iron fist in a velvet glove," says John Matinde, a DJ on SW Radio Africa, a station set up in London last year to broadcast to Zimbabwe the music and independent news that state-owned radio no longer airs. "It is an open secret that he is referring to the political situation in Zimbabwe, but Oliver speaks in tongues. People can interpret him any way they wish."

The minstrel observing from the sidelines - it is a tactic that has served him well. Unlike his friend Thomas Mapfumo - Zimbabwe's only other bona fide international superstar - Mtukudzi has never allied himself with a political party, even in Zanu PF's heyday soon after independence. He is also the ultimate performer. He sings, plays guitar and dances throughout his shows often for four hours straight - although, at 49, he has stopped playing Pungwes, (traditional 12-hour concerts that would end at 6am). His nine-piece Black Spirits band (with three rousing backing singers) have been with him since the Eighties, and they contribute to his big-voice, gospel-blues sound, which merges Zimbabwean jiti and South African mbaqanga, while retaining a style of its own. In Zimbabwe, they even call the genre "Tuku music". What, though, of his fans in London? So many Zimbabweans now live in exile in the UK, that on the streets back home they refer to London as Harare North.