[To think the Trade Unions were under his communist thumb… Now he has to oppress the blacks… Jan]

Zimbabwe state forces have shifted their focus from white farmers and opposition supporters to cracking down on trade unionists, recently released report say. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU report contains gory details of how Robert Mugabe™s Zanu PF government has clamped down on trade unionists whom they allege support opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The ICFTU, in the report compiled by Kenyan Peter Mathuki, has appealed for urgent intervention from international organisations and sympathetic donor countries to urgently intervene on behalf of Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions (ZCTU) members.

Mathuki who was in Zimbabwe last month told the East African Standard that he had to use “unorthodox means” to be able to enter Zimbabwe because the country had blacklisted international trade union representatives. “None of the officials of the labour or trade union movement can be able to get into Zimbabwe as the government feels majority of the workers whose rights are being violated everyday support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,” added Mathuki.

The ICFTU report says the government had sponsored its own trade union movement Known as Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Union (ZFTU) and was using state machineries to force ZCTU members to join the (152)˜union.™ The report details coercion, harassment and intimidation as a common occurence for ZFTU activists who have state backing in raiding factories and companies to register workers from ZCTU to their “union.™ The report further says the Zimbabwe government has been using the Law and Order Maintenance Act which later was amended to Public Order and Security Act and nicknamed POSA to intimidate and arrest people considered to be opposed to the government.

Mathuki says in the report that on June 4, 2003 during the opposition MDC organised mass action police cracked down on ZCTU district secretary a Mr Misheck Gapare, arrested and detained him after heavily assaulting him. The operation that was carried out by police and members of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) saw Mr Gapare forced to eat his stool which he had excreted after the heavy beating. The report further says Gapare was quizzed on his participation in the MDC activity and also his role in ZCTU issues. He was hospitalised from severe internal injuries and is now recuperating at his home. However police did not keep any records of his arrest.

Another incident that is said to have taken place on June 22, 2003 involved a ZCTU officials a Mr Elliot Kudenyengera and other activists who are said to have been heavily assaulted by members of the ruling Zanu PF party for allegedly taking part in ZCTU activities and also wearing the union T-shirts. According to the report in the ensuing melee Mr Kudenyengera was arrested by police and made to pay Zim$10,000 for bail. He had to seek the assistance of ZCTU for both legal and medical expense. However the other activities did not report their cases for fear of reprisals from the Zanu PF gang and the CIO. The report further says on June 4, 2003 in Bulawayo the ZCTU district vice secretary Mrs Getrude Mthombeni was also arrested and detained in police custody for five days for taking part in the MDC organised mass action. She was however later given bail and her case is pending in court.

Source:East African Standard (Kenya)
By Martin Mutua
URL: http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID…/p>