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ZCTU National Labour Protest - Sept 13, 2006 - Index of articles
Zim
torture allegations to be probed
Mail
& Guardian (SA)
October 04, 2006
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=285725&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
A Zimbabwean court
on Tuesday ordered a probe into allegations that labour union leaders
were tortured by police while in custody awaiting trail for attempting
to protest against President Robert Mugabe's rule.
Harare magistrate
William Bhila ordered an investigation into claims that leaders
of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were beaten up in police custody,
and postponed their trial until October 17.
"On allegations
of torture it is also ordered that further investigations be carried
out by the Criminal Investigations Department," he said.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama
had asked for postponement of the trial, saying some of his clients
were still recovering from their injuries and were unable to follow
proceedings.
"Other people are
incapacitated, some have to be carried and be brought to court in
ambulances," he said.
Lawyers for the
ZCTU members said secretary general Wellington Chibebe had a fractured
arm while 29 others sustained bruises and cuts after being assaulted
in police custody.
The ZCTU leaders
were forced to abandon plans for a series of anti-government
marches over the spiralling cost of living when police arrested
them for breaching the tough Public
Order and Security Act on September 13.
The ZCTU had hoped
to rope in thousands to denounce fuel and food shortages, more than
1 200% inflation and 80% unemployment -- which critics blame on
economic mismanagement by Mugabe's government.
Mugabe last week
backed Zimbabwean police for using brute force to pre-empt the protest,
saying: "Police were right in dealing sternly ... because the trade
unionists want to become a law unto themselves."
The 82-year-old
leader said: "We cannot have a situation where people decide to
sit in places not allowed and when the police remove them, they
say no," a state-run daily quoted Mugabe as saying.
"We can't have that,
that is a revolt to the system. When the police say move, move.
If you don't move, you invite the police to use force," Mugabe said.
Demonstrations by
the ZCTU, formerly headed by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
threatened to bring Zimbabwe to its knees in the late 1990s as hundreds
of thousands of people took to the streets.
However, opponents
of Mugabe have been unable to take advantage of the current economic
crisis as a result of internal divisions within the opposition and
fear of the security services.
The Congress of
South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in September expressed its at
violence against Zimbabwe trade unions.
Cosatu spokesperson
Patrick Craven said a statement by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe
condoned the use of violence by police against Zimbabwean trade
unions.
Craven said Mugabe
was happy with police dealing sternly with ZCTU leaders during their
September 13 protests.
"This is nothing
less than a justification of brutality and torture against workers
who were peacefully exercising their right to demonstrate," said
Craven. -- AFP, Sapa
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