ARTUZ stands shoulder to shoulder with NEHAWU

By Staff Reporter

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe has extended revolutionary solidarity to NEHAWU as it marks its 13th Congress.

Full Solidarity message below:

Amandla!
Viva NEHAWU, Viva!
Viva ARTUZ, Viva!
Viva WFTU, Viva!
Phansi nge Capitalism, Phansi!
Long live international working-class solidarity, long live!

Leadership of NEHAWU, the President, General Secretary, and the National Executive Committee; leadership of COSATU, the SACP, and fraternal delegates from across the globe—and, most importantly, the vanguard of the working class: the delegates of this historic 13th National Congress!

I bring you revolutionary and fraternal greetings from the corridors of Zimbabwe, where our educators continue to wage a relentless daily struggle against state repression, deteriorating public services, and structural poverty. I speak to you today on behalf of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ). We convey our deepest revolutionary solidarity to NEHAWU and congratulate this giant, fighting union on the occasion of its 13th National Congress.

Your Congress convenes under a most profound and historically necessary theme: “Advance workplace organisation to defend collective bargaining, heighten class consciousness and advance internationalism.” This is not merely a slogan. It speaks to a deliberate, strategic intention to link the broader, global struggles of the working class directly to our immediate bread-and-butter needs on the shop floor. For us at ARTUZ, just as it is for NEHAWU, we understand that if workers effectively organise at the workplace and strengthen their capacity to bargain, they win tangible victories. These victories do more than put food on the table—they embolden the working class. They build the confidence necessary to participate in the ultimate revolutionary project: pushing back against the barbarity of capitalism and marching decisively towards socialism!

We meet at a time when the Southern African region is bleeding. Today, South Africa is facing a severe crisis of xenophobia, but let us be dialectical and clear: this is a direct response to the crisis of neoliberalism. We express our deepest solidarity with the working people of South Africa who are suffocating under the acute failures of capitalism. With millions of South Africans trapped in unemployment and social services collapsing under the pressure of austerity and underfunding, the working class is being suffocated.

Tragically, working people are being forced to turn against each other, scapegoating one another for a systemic crisis they never created. The real enemy is not the migrant worker; the real enemy is capital! We salute NEHAWU and other progressive formations who are taking the lead in building class consciousness as the only true socialist response to the crisis of xenophobia. Workers of the continent must unite; we have nothing to lose but our chains!

Furthermore, comrades, we continue to learn from how NEHAWU is navigating the treacherous new political terrain in South Africa, particularly in the context of the Government of National Unity (GNU). We are watching closely how you deal with former allies who have increasingly embraced neoliberal economic policies and accommodated the interests of capital at the expense of workers. In this era of ideological confusion, we look to NEHAWU to remain the militant compass of the public sector. We hope that NEHAWU will continue to support the strengthening of the Left in South Africa and across the continent, ensuring that the working class is not swallowed by the unholy alliances of the capitalist ruling elite.

While South Africa confronts these challenges, Zimbabwe faces its own deep democratic and constitutional crisis. The ruling class is concluding the structural consolidation of power through Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3). They are altering the supreme law to centralise power and insulate themselves from accountability, confirming exactly what Frantz Fanon predicted in The Wretched of the Earth:

I quote:

«”… The national bourgeoisie discovers its historic mission… that of an intermediary… It will alter the laws, it will change the constitution, but it will not reform itself out of power; it will consolidate its hold of power through changing the laws.”»

We the people will however throw everything we have into the fight to restore the purity of our constitution and what remains of our democracy. This is a fight we are prepared to die for!

The former liberation party in Zimbabwe has since degenerated into a hopeless comprador bourgeoisie. Although it still postures as a revolutionary vanguard on the international stage, it has weaponised domestic state machinery as a thoroughly reactionary grouping. This year alone, this comprador regime exposed its counter-revolutionary essence by brutally blocking two peaceful protests organised by ARTUZ: one in solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and another in solidarity with the besieged people of Palestine.

Your conference comes in the context of global wars, where trillions of dollars are being poured into the military-industrial complex to target countries that have refused to bow down to imperialism. Capitalism continues to destroy our earth, dehumanise our people, entrench patriarchy, sponsor bloodshed, breed global anti-immigrant sentiment, and promote grotesque inequality. We look forward to learning from the resolutions of this Congress on how the trade union movement can practically respond to these imperialist wars driven by greed and profit accumulation.

In resistance to these imperialist mechanics, ARTUZ maintains an unwavering, non-negotiable solidarity with all oppressed people around the world:

• We stand firmly with the Cuban people, currently suffocating under the criminal, illegal blockade intensified by the Trump administration.
• We stand firmly with the Iranian people, enduring bombs and geopolitical aggression from a desperate, decaying imperialist establishment.
• We stand firmly with the Palestinian people, under continuous, genocidal attack from the Zionist occupying force of Israel.
• We stand firmly with the people of Western Sahara, who remain under brutal, archaic colonial occupation.

Finally, as trade unions in 2026, we are faced with a new frontier of struggle. We must answer the question of how to force the fair distribution of the abundant wealth the world is now producing through new technology and Artificial Intelligence.

We are compelled to respond to how AI can—and must—be deployed to improve working conditions and the general quality of life for humanity. Under a socialist vision, workers should never have sleepless nights terrified of being replaced by machines. Instead, workers should be excited by the prospect of having less work to do, with improved incomes, because the proceeds of production are finally, and fairly, distributed to those who create the wealth.

Comrades, our struggles are inextricably linked. Let this 13th National Congress be a beacon of hope, not just for South Africa, but for Zimbabwe, the African continent, and the global working class. May your debates be robust, your resolutions radical, and your actions militant.

Long live NEHAWU!
Long live ARTUZ!
Long live working-class internationalism!
Forward with socialism!
Workers of the world, unite!
Aluta Continua!