African press review 1 May 2014

It's May Day but gloom and doom is predicted for Zimbabwe's workforce. The SA platinum miners' strike looks set to continue. A Kenyan court bans members of one union to attend a rally organised by a rival outfit. Kenyan athletes haven't drowned in a pool. And the ICC refuses to challenge Egypt's mass death sentence.

NewsDay announces a gloomy International Workers' Day for the Zimbabwe's workers.

According to the Harare-based newspaper, trade unions will mark the day against a background of gloom and doom, characterised by a shrinking industrial base and massive job losses.

NewsDay says the contraction of the economy in the past 15 years has seriously affected Zimbabwe and changed the tone of industrial relations. Trade unions have become more involved in the fight for political change.

Zimbabwe in the same period slid from its perch as the second-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa.

Many multi-national companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever have moved their regional head offices out of Zimbabwe.

The economic decline has been compounded by what NewsDay calls an imploding political crisis and uncertainty brought about by the government’s indigenisation policy.

The article ends by saying that Zimbabwe is at a crossroads in its industrial relations. The country is aiming for economic recovery in a globalised world where cheap labour and flexible foreign currency transfers are crucial attractions.

As the country commemorates May Day, perhaps it is the opportunity to start discussions among stakeholders on how to reconcile the need for economic recovery and the protection of workers’ rights.

Another gloomy labour story on the front page of South African financial paper, BusinessDay. There we learn that members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union have rejected the latest wage offer from the world’s top three platinum producers.

Wage talks collapsed last week, dashing hopes for an imminent end to South Africa’s longest and most costly mining strike, which has now lasted 14 weeks and has hit 40 per cent of global platinum production.

The union is demanding the establishment of a basic wage of 850 euros per month over the next three years.

International Workers' Day could be a fraught affair in Kenya, too. On the front page of Nairobi-based paper, the Standard, we learn that a major clash is looming between members of two rival trade unions at today’s May Day celebrations at Uhuru Park.

The Standard says the newly launched Public Servants Trade Unions of Kenya seems set to defy a court order barring its members from attending today’s gathering organised by its rival, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions.

The public servants union claims to represent 600,000 members, against the Central Organisation of Trade Unions 163,000.

In the Daily Nation, we learn that South Africa’s Sports Minister, Fikile Mba-lula, has attracted Kenyan wrath for his utterances about the nation's athletes.

Speaking at a recent media briefing in Johannesburg, the minister was asked to explain why South Africa’s national teams remain predominantly white, despite the end of apartheid more than 20 years ago. In the course of his answer, Minister Mbalula referred to Kenya, which he said had sent athletes to the Olympic Games to “drown in the pool”.

The Nation puts the record straight, pointing out that no Kenyan athlete has ever drowned in a pool at the Olympics.

And one angry reader sent in a twitter message reading "Kenya’s First Lady can run faster than their four first ladies combined", a reference to President Jacob Zuma’s polygamous zeal and the recent run by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, who completed the London Marathon.

In Cairo the Egypt Independent reports that the International Criminal Court has rejected a petition by the Muslim Brotherhood against the death sentence handed down against the organisation's Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie.

Minya Criminal Court on Monday sentenced Badie and 682 others to death over charges of inciting violence and the murder of police officers during protests last year.

Several Western countries, including the United States and the EU, have spoken out against the mass death sentence, saying that it challenges the democratic transition as it does not assure a fair trail for all of the defendants.

The International Criminal Court based its decision not to contest the sentences because it believes the Brotherhood and its supporters serve the interests of terrorism.