Yet again, the gender equality conversation has received another boost, following the election of Florence Taruvinga Muchae as the President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in Zimbabwe. The achievement took place last week at the 9th Congress of the ZCTU at Harare.
Florence Taruvinga Muchae was born on the 5th of September,1988. Her journey as a unionist took off in 2009, when a vivid passion for organising, health and safety issues at the workplace and gender and youth issues emerged. The subsequent year, she was voted to be the vice Chairperson of the Young Workers Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union (ZEWU). During this period, she had the opportunity to organise young workers in the Energy Industry, raising awareness on the importance of joining trade unions and enlightening them on their rights as workers. Her time at ZEWU ended in 2012, after the union opted out of the national trade union center, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
In 2013, she was trained as a shop steward by ZCTU and not long after, managed a great feat, when she registered the Energy Sector Workers Union of Zimbabwe, an affiliate of ZCTU. It is currently the union with the highest membership in Zimbabwe.
In 2015, Sister Florence was elected to be the National Women’s Chairperson of the Energy Sector Workers Union of Zimbabwe and in 2016, at the age of 28, she was elected to be the 1st Vice President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Unfortunately, in 2017, she was fired from work for demonstrating against non-compliance of 2012 Collective bargaining by the Zimbabwe Energy Supply Authority. She was reinstated in 2019 and since then her journey as a unionist has continued unwaveringly.
The Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) is proud of Sister Florence and wishes her the best as she begins her tenure as president of the ZCTU.