ZCTU saddened by the death of Gibson Jama Sibanda
By Laura | August 24, 2010
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, condolence message, 24 August 2010
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has been saddened by the death of its former President, Gibson Jama Sibanda after an illness.
Sibanda, born in Filabusi in 1944, worked for the National Railways of Zimbabwe as a train driver from 1965 to 1982. From 1982 to 1984 he was President of one of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions affiliates the Railway Association of Enginemen (RAE). From 1987to 1989, Cde Sibanda was the President of the then Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railwaymen’s Union (ZARU) which is also an affiliate of the ZCTU. In 1988 he became the ZCTU Vice President and from 1989 to 1999 he was the ZCTU President. In 1999 he also served in the International Labour Organization Governing Body when he was ZCTU President. Together with the now Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, Sibanda was a force to reckon with in the labour movement and a trade unionist par excellence.
Cde Sibanda’s political career dates back to the 1970s when in 1976 to 1979 he became the Secretary for Welfare for Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU). This was the same period (1976 -1979) that he was also detained by the Rhodesian authorities for his active role in politics. He was instrumental, together with other trade union leaders at the time, in weaning the ZCTU from ZANU (PF) in the late 1980s. At the inaugural congress after the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, Sibanda was elected the party’s Vice President and elected a Member of Parliament for Nkulumane in 2000. At the time of his death he was a co-Minister of National Healing in charge of reconciliation and national intergration.
The working people of Zimbabwe have been robbed of a great leader. We will take comfort in the legacy that he left. On behalf of the Zimbabwean workers, the ZCTU sends its condolences to the Sibanda family.
We say go well Son of the labour movement. Your wise counsel will be greatly missed.
Wellington Chibebe, Secretary General
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