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This article participates on the following special index pages:
2002 Presidential & Harare Municipal elections - Index of articles
Trade
Union leader abducted, missing - Crisis Alert
Crisi
in Zimbabwe Coalition
February 26, 2002
The President of the Zimbabwe Civil Service Employees Association,
Ephraim Tapa, and his wife Faith Mukwakwa, have been missing since
the 16th of February when the vehicle they were traveling
was intercepted by war veterans at Corner Store between Mutoko and
Murewha.
Mr. Tapa’s two
brothers, who were travelling in the car, were able to escape, although
one of the brothers was shot in the arm. Mr. Tapa was coming from
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union’s All Stakeholder meeting which
had been held in Harare earlier in the day. From there he had proceeded
to pick up his wife before starting on the journey.
Mr Tapa is a
member of the ZCTU General Council.
The abduction
was reported to the police but no serious investigation has been
carried out. The ZCTU has written a letter to Mr. July Moyo, the
Minister for Labour and Social Welfare, who has been requested to
pressure his counterpart from the Home Affairs to find the whereabouts
of the couple. There are additional worries for the safety of the
couple, as both are hypertensive and if alive, would need to have
access to medication for their condition.
Trade unionists
have been targeted particularly harshly because of their link with
the Movement for Democratic Change, whose base is in the labour
movement. During a campaign speech over the weekend, the Head of
State, President Robert Mugabe specifically threatened that he would
deregister the ZCTU.
Civil society
groups have long been calling for the disbanding of the ZANU-PF
militias and have pressured the police to take up their duty to
protect citizens from harassment. The locations of the militia camps
are known but no attempt has been made to shut them down even though
it is clear that they are responsible for campaign of terror and
brutality which has intensified each month in the rural and peri-urban
areas. The area where the couple were abducted is known to be one
of the "hotspots" where incidents of human rights violations
have been particularly high.
The tragic abduction
of Mr. Tapa and his wife demonstrate the extent of the levels of
viciousness that citizens are subjected to in the country and the
impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators.
For further
information contact: W. Chibebe, ZCTU, 263- (011) 610593.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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