Have you ever wondered why Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) president Linda Masarira appears to criticise MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa more than anyone else?
Well, wonder no more, because we might have the answer?
It is not because she is Zanu PF, or because Chamisa is a man, and she is a woman and a gender activist.
Linda Masarira was an Assistant Train Driver (Guard Special) at the struggling National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and she was also a labour activist there.
She clashed with the late Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai and the other officials from the NRZ management on several occasions demanding better working conditions and timely salaries for the railway workers.
However, Masarira and some other workers were fired by the company in August 2016. She was the only female who was fired, the rest were males.
Masarira and colleagues were fired by the NRZ using the Zuva Petroleum Supreme Court judgement.
She confessed this in an interview on Magamba TV’s Take Down, she said “You know that I got fired in August 2016 by the Zuva Judgement and I was the only female who was fired during that time from the first batch that was fired.”
Where does Chamisa come in?
Nelson Chamisa was part of the Zuva Petroleum legal team that defended the company (Zuva) against a Supreme Court challenge by a group of former managers.
Judges in the case are the ones that ruled in July 2015 that companies can lawfully terminate workers contracts at any time without packages provided they are given at least three- month notice.
This judgement triggered an Armageddon in the labour market which saw more than 20 000 workers losing their jobs across the sectors.
NRZ took advantage of this Zuva judgement to fire Linda Masarira and colleagues from the company, as punishment for demanding better working conditions.
We believe this could be the reason why she criticises Chamisa every time, however there could be other reasons too.
Masarira added that she successfully challenged her expulsion from the company and the court ruled that she was supposed to be reinstated but she chose to go away and work on influencing policy.
“I challenged that (dismissal) in court, won the case, and I was supposed to be reinstated back but I decided to come out. I needed to do something, where I must be able to influence policy and all this labour injustice.
“I got fired for the people of NRZ to get their salaries and to be paid decent salaries,” she said.
REVEALED!!! Why Linda Masarira always criticise Chamisa
