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Detained trade unionists in Zimbabwe released
16 November 2005
One hundred and eighteen trade union activists, arrested during an anti-poverty march in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, last week, have been released. The ITF, in the wake of the detentions, joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in its condemnation of the arrests.
The 118 detainees, representatives of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), were arrested on 8 November. Among them were General Secretary Wellington Chibebe and President Lovemore Matombo, arrested in the city centre on their way to the ZCTU anti-poverty march. The march lasted only ten minutes before riot police, armed with batons and shields and accompanied by dogs, intervened.
In addition, members of the ITF-affiliated Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railwaymen’s Union, Area Organising Secretary (Eastern) Sibusisiwe Moyo and activist Francisca Gurure, both of whom had been detained in Chitungwiza and Mutare police cells, have also been released.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft and ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder last week wrote to President Robert Mugabe denouncing the arrests; meanwhile ITF affiliates were urged to write protest letters to the President.
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