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Swedish union protests over police's strong-arm tactics
ZimOnline
September 26, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=191

HARARE - The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (SCPE) has written to President Robert Mugabe protesting the Zimbabwe Republic Police's strong-arm tactics in dealing with labour leaders behind this month's anti-government strike.

The Swedish employees' federation becomes the latest international organisation to voice its concern over the heavy-handed way in which police and other security agents stifled the September 13 protests by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

Similar protests have come from the European Union, Nigerian Labour Congress, Congress of South African Trade Unions, Botswana Council for Non Governmental Organisations, the United States and Britain, among others.

In a letter dated 15 September 2006, the Swedish worker body accused the Zimbabwean authorities of using heavy-handed tactics to break up the ZCTU-organised protests and of politicising "what was a purely a trade union event".

Routes planned for use by the ZCTU marchers on 13 September were blocked in many cities, including in Harare, where ruling ZANU PF militia wearing party regalia moved from point to point, intimidating workers.

"Indeed, and as it had widely announced beforehand, the ZCTU was only demonstrating against the country's inflation rate of 1 000 percent - by all available accounts the highest in the world - and in demand of higher incomes, lower taxes and better access to antiretroviral drugs needed to fight HIV/AIDS," the SCPE's letter to Mugabe reads in part.

The Swedish confederation said it was preparing to lodge a formal complaint to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) against the Harare authorities for violating ILO conventions recognising the right of workers to organise and engage in collective bargaining for better pay and working conditions.

The SCPE also said it was particularly incensed at the brutal beatings of the ZCTU top leadership while in police custody.

The ZCTU leaders suffered serious injuries including broken ribs, arms and legs after they were assaulted and tortured by the police who also kept them locked up in cells for several hours denying them access to medical treatment.

Zimbabwe police authorities say they will investigate the assault of the ZCTU officials and charge officers found to have beaten up or tortured the union leaders. But police commanders have in the past never followed through similar promises to bring to book officers accused of torturing civilians.

President Mugabe has, meanwhile, backed the police's strong-arm tactics to crush the ZCTU anti-government protest.

Addressing staff at the Zimbabwean embassy in Cairo, Egypt, Mugabe said the police were right in dealing sternly with the ZCTU leaders during their demonstration "because the trade unionists want to become a law unto themselves".

He said the protest organisers got the treatment they deserved for breaking the tough government security laws prohibiting Zimbabweans from staging public protests without permission from the police.

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