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Post-election violence 2008 - Index of articles & images
Press
Conference statement to SADC governments on Zim issues
National
Trade Union Federations
June 11, 2008
We the workers
and economic engines of the Southern African region of the African
continent (SADC) and under the auspices of various national federations
in the region, met here in Switzerland (Geneva) at the International
Labour Organisation (ILO).
After having read from the committee of experts' report, that irrespective
of the fact that Zimbabwe is a signatory to a few ILO conventions
including the convention on Freedom of Association, the governments
has continued to aggressively violate same, including among other
things, malicious police violence, brutality, arrests and detentions
of trade union leaders, activists, and human rights defenders.
Currently as we speak, Wellington Chibebe and Lovemore Matombo,
the Secretary General and the President respectively of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were incarcerated
in remand centres for 12 days for having addressed workers during
May Day, and in the process of their incarceration, they were fitted
with leg irons like convicted hard-core chronic criminals, and they
were reluctantly allowed bail of 280 billion Zimbabwe dollars each.
The ILO committee of experts and the committee on the application
of standards have continuously advised government not to use the
Public
order and Security Act (POSA) and the Criminal
Codification Act against worker activists.
We are also aware that the government has similarly ratified and
aligned itself with several treaties and protocols including, among
others, the SADC electoral protocol which allows for free and fair
elections. As such we are at pains to try to understand the deplorable
pre- and post-election violence taking place against innocent Zimbabwe
citizens, particularly now that preparations for a run-off election
are under way.
We are deeply alarmed and stressed by the announcement
by government that all food aid programmes should stop forthwith
until after elections, because it is a recipe for disaster, which
is not conducive for a peaceful environment.
We are further concerned about the withdrawal of identity documents
from some citizens because it is our view that if such is allowed,
it can be used to manipulate the results of the forthcoming run-off
elections by denying some citizens their right to cast their ballots,
yet all Zimbabweans have a right to self-determination, which is
an inalienable right.
As citizens, economic generators and taxpayers of the Southern region
of the African continent, meeting here in Geneva, we humbly demand
from Southern African Development Community (SADC) to act on the
following as a corrective measure to the current crisis as a matter
of urgency:
- Immediate
restoration of food aid supplies to all deserving Zimbabweans
without any discrimination
- Call upon
government to ensure that all forms of violence is stopped forthwith
- Put in place
as of immediate, peacekeepers to ensure and guarantee peaceful
environment for the ongoing election process
- Call upon
the Zimbabwe government to guarantee all civil liberties for all
the people of Zimbabwe without discrimination
- To call
the Zimbabwe government to forthwith stop taking identity documents
from some citizens since that would disqualify those citizens
their right to vote
- Call upon
SADC to ensure vigilant monitoring and observing of the run-off
elections and that such observers should include the United Nations
and other international bodies
- Call upon
government to unconditionally withdraw all the charges against
the union leaders
- Call upon
Zimbabwe government to ensure that the Public order and Security
Act is not used against workers
- Call upon
Zimbabwe government to ensure that the State of Emergency laws
such as the Criminal Codification Act are revoked
- Call upon
the government to ensure that people who were displaced as a result
of the spate of violence are allowed and assisted to peacefully
return to their homes and to be compensated commensurate to the
costs incurred
- Call upon
SADC to allow for urgent dialogue between itself and the leadership
of the Southern African Trade Union Federations on the issue of
Zimbabwe before the 21st of June, 2008
We come from
a backdrop that says those that govern should do so on the mandate
of the governed and that taxation without participation is tantamount
to tyranny, and in this equation the governing have an imperative
duty to account to the governed.
We, the representatives of the trade unions in the region, cannot
help but blame SADC for the deterioration of the political and economic
situation in Zimbabwe due to the passive strategy in dealing with
issues of human rights violations and constitutionality.
Finally, the workers in the region cannot allow the election and
the expression of the people of Zimbabwe through the ballot box
to be stolen. We demand that their decision be respected by all.
We call for an urgent response to our most genuine submissions for
engagement on this issue and as such, we thank you in anticipation.
The Southern African Trade Union Federations represented here in
Geneva who are declaring these demands are as follows:
- Zambian
Congress of Trade Unions (ZaCTU), e-mail hikaumba@yahoo.com
- Botswana
Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU), e-mail jbradibe@yahoo.com
- Trade Union
Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA)
- Congress
of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), e-mail alinah@cosatu.org.za
- Swaziland
Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), e-mail sftu1@swazi.net and
jansithole@yahoo.com
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