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Zim
teachers arrested at World Teachers Day meeting
ZimOnline
October 09, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=251
HARARE – Police on Thursday arrested
the leaders of the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) for allegedly holding an "illegal"
meeting in the southern Masvingo city to mark World Teachers Day.
PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou, secretary
general Ryamond Majongwe and four other top officials of the union
were detained and interrogated by the police for about four hours
before being released without being charged.
Majongwe said trouble began on Thursday
as the police stormed a meeting to commemorate World Teachers Day
insisting they had not sanctioned it.
Under the government’s draconian Public
Order and Security Act (POSA), individuals and organizations
must first notify the police before holding any political meetings.
"We were detained for more than
four hours for no apparent reason by police officers from the Law
and Order section. What they did was virtually to disrupt our meeting,"
said Majongwe.
"We went through a tedious interrogation
exercise. One police officer actually threatened to shoot me and
I am going to take the matter up with the police public relations
department," he said.
Masvingo provincial police spokesperson
Inspector Fibion Nyambo yesterday confirmed the arrests.
"Yes, they were briefly detained
here for holding an illegal meeting. We warned them and let them
go," he told ZimOnline.
The PTUZ has been at the forefront
in pushing for higher salaries for teachers who are some of the
worst paid civil servants in Zimbabwe.
The lowest paid teacher in Zimbabwe
earns a paltry Z$33 000, way below the poverty datum line (breadline)
which currently stands at $112 000.
Majongwe was among several trade union
leaders who were three weeks ago brutally assaulted by the police
for planning to lead demonstrations in Harare over worsening economic
hardships in the country. - ZimOnline
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