Peter Mutasa

Peter Mutasa
Peter Mutasa
Born	Peter Mutasa
Occupation	;
Known for	Being President of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Peter Mutasa is a Zimbabwean trade unionist and the former president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). He is also the General Secretary of Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union

Mutasa gained mainstream prominence in Zimbabwe after calling for a nationwide stay away from 14 January 2019 to 16 January 2019. The stay away turned violent when protestors barricaded roads, burnt cars and looted several shops around the country but especially in Harare and Bulawayo.

On 25 January 2019, Mutasa handed himself over to the police after the police said they were looking to question him. On 26 January, Mutasa was charged with treason and remanded in custody. He joined other activist that had been charged with treason following the protests including Pastor Evan Mawarire, ARTUZ President Obert Masaraure, ZCTU Secretary General Japhet Moyo, and Zimbabwe Youth Alliance president Kumbirai Learnmore Magorimbo.

Removal from NSSA board

In May 2017, he was expelled from the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) management board. In a letter addressed to Mutasa dated May 3, 2017 and signed by Public Service Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Prisca Mupfumira, he was expelled because of his conduct in the board and for leaking confidential information. Part of the letter read:

This action has been necessitated by your conduct in the execution of your expected roles and responsibilities as a board member by failing to advance the interests of NSSA, but instead resorted to attacking the institution. In addition you failed to uphold confidentiality of Board discussions as evidenced by information from NSSA leaked to the public domain through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Sources privy to the developments alleged that Mutasa became very unpopular due to his call for the downward slashing of board members sitting allowances by 30 percent after arguing that the fixed US$2 000 allowance per every quarter and US$490 sitting allowance for subcommittee meetings and the US$600 paid per every sitting in the general board meetings were unsustainable.

He is said to have questioned some of NSSA’s investment decisions, particularly the acquisition of mobile operator Telecel Zimbabwe in which Nssa provided US$30 million towards the purchase of a 60 percent stake in Telecel Zimbabwe from Dutch-based Global Telecom Holding, a VimpleCom subsidiary.^[1]

Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition

On 12 January 2022, Peter Mutasa was elected as the chairperson of the Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition (CiCZ).

The election was conducted online and Mutasa emerged the winner after polling 53% of the vote against Samuel Wadzayi who received 47% of the votes.^[2]

Losing ZCTU Presidency

On 29 October 2021, Peter Mutasa was beaten by Florence Taruvinga in the ZCTU Presidential Election.

Five of the ZCTU’s 31 affiliated unions, including the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union (ARTUZ), were barred from the poll reportedly for submitting names of their delegates late.

Mutasa and Taruvinga had the backing of 13 unions each, but Taruvinga won the election because the unions supporting her had more voting delegates based on the size of their membership. She polled 73 votes to Mutasa’s 59.^[3]