Alfred Makwarimba is the president of the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU).[1] The ZFTU is organized and run by the ruling ZANU–PF party, and is not to be confused with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.[2] Makwarimba's presidency has been controversial. In 2006, the ZFTU voted to expel him as president.[3] In 2009, the ZFTU announced that Makwarimba was suspended pending a police investigation into allegations of unspecified misconduct, although the Zimbabwean government continued to consider him the president.[4] In both instances, he either retained his presidency or regained it later, because news articles from 2007 to 2018 continue to refer to him as the president of the ZFTU.[5] [6] In January 2018, the Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ) sought to have Makwarimba arrested over allegations that Makwarimba and the ZFTU have breached a court order to interfere with the TUZ's affairs.[7]
Makwarimba has criticized the government's 2014 plan to match salaries to productivity.[8] In 2018, he urged the government to avoid returning to the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme.