Back to Index

GAPWUZ Secretary General arrested
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
January 13, 2008

General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) Secretary General, Mrs. Gertrude Hambira has been arrested. Mrs Hambira was arrested at the St Mary's Anglican Church, Harare at around 1100hrs by riot police after she was sported taking photographs of a furor between Bishop Norbert Kunonga and Bishop Sebastian Bakare's supporters.

She is being held at Harare Central Police station Law and Order section, by the time of going to press, no charges had been leveled against her. The lawyers were being denied access to see their client.

According to reports received by The Catalyst team, there was commotion at the church when ousted Bishop Kunonga and parishioners aligned to him, bulldozed their way into the Anglican Church, inciting those aligned to newly appointed bishop for the Diocese of Harare, Bishop Bakare. Gertrude Hambira was arrested while photographing the commotion along with other parishioners.

Kunonga was fired from the church after withdrawing the Diocese of Harare from the province, made up of Anglican churches in Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The former Bishop made allegations of unbridled homosexuality in the church. However, Bishops of the church of the province of Central Africa, which includes Zimbabwe, noted that Kunonga could not divorce the diocese of Harare from the rest of the province and was ousted after he severed ties with the church.

However, Kunonga has continued to hold on to power although Bishop Bakare has been appointed the Bishop of the province. It has been established that Anglican parishioners remain opposed to his hold on power. In elections held at different parishes, Kunonga was beaten dismally. The results for some of the parishes are noted below:

Kunonga has also been accused by Anglican parishioners of being partisan by openly supporting the ruling ZANU PF and thus failing to fulfill his mandate as a church leader rather than a politician. In 2002, Kunonga was added to the United States travel ban which affected ZANU PF top officials and their cronies. In 2003, he allegedly grabbed a white owned farm under the guidance of ZANU PF chefs.

. . . as human rights violations protrude into the year 2008!

The two student leaders Onwel Marasha and Obert Masarira from Midlands State University (MSU) who were arrested and subsequently tortured on Tuesday 8 January 2008 have been reported to have sustained serious internal injuries, the Catalyst reveals.

The Catalyst team which visited Avenues Clinic on Saturday 12 January 2008 together with Washington Katema the National Coordinator of Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) around 0200 hours in the morning found the two students in a very bad state, the duo was unable to walk.

The two left the Gweru Central police station in an ambulance around 2300hours on the 8th of January due to their deteriorating health conditions. Their lawyer Mr Chidavanyi of Chidavanyi and Partners assigned to the case by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) revealed to the Catalyst team that the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) agent who could only be identified as Tinde was tracking the two threatening that they would rot in jail.

This is an indication that the year 2008 will mark an increase in the cases of human rights abuses as we head towards the election. It is the ruling party's culture of sponsoring violence to any dissenting voices such as the students, workers, journalists, opposition political party members and civil society members whose views are opposed to the establishment.

The torture of the students, and the arrest of the Secretary General of the General Agricultural Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) Ms Gertrude Hambira for filming the feud being caused by the Zanu PF loyalist Kunoga equally sends shivering signals of what the year holds for the human rights activists in the country.

We therefore call upon the government of Zimbabwe to respect the freedoms granted to the people of Zimbabwe in the Universal Bill of Rights which include the freedoms of expression, association, choice and assembly. Failure to start respecting such fundamental tenants, less than 90 days before the general elections entails that the electoral environment is not conducive for such crucial processes, hence must be leveled if the elections are to be free and fair.

Visit the Crisis in Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP