Harare- MDC president Nelson Chamisa has described the late founding member and former president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Lovemore Matombo as a gallant fighter and champion for working class struggles.

Matombo died at his home in Greendale, Harare on Monday.

“We have lost a gallant fighter, a champion of the working class struggles, a democrat and a towering figure in the fight for democracy in Zimbabwe knew Cde Lovemore Matombo from my days as a student leader because the organic struggles of students and workers were always intertwined” said Chamisa

According to Chamisa, Matombo was one of the Vice Presidents of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions elected at the Congress held at the University of Zimbabwe in 1985. He served his term and then proceeded to University and did his Masters.

He then was elected President of the Posts and Telecommunications Union of Zimbabwe, before being elected president of the ZCTU in 2001 at the Masvingo Congress where the late veteran trade unionists Dr. Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and Gibson Sibanda handed over the baton. Matombo led the glorious movement of the ZCTU until 2011. He at the same time continued to lead the Communications Union.

“I particularly remember when he used to participate in numerous meetings I had with workers from the Communications union when I was Minister of ICT during the Inclusive government between 2009 and 2013. I also used to enjoy his progressive understanding of dialectical materialism in articulating and locating working class struggles. He was an articulate leader and a clear thinker. His May Day speeches, being the oxygen to the workers’ struggles, were a constant source of inspiration and mobilization to the working class movement in the country”

Chamisa added “The country has lost a great son of the Labour Movement and certainly a great revolutionary offer my sincere condolences to the Matombo family. May God comfort them during this grieving moment as they mourn the sad loss of a dear father and a patriot”