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Zimbabwe union head arrested

Nov 10, 2009 12:47 PM | By Sapa-dpa

The head of Zimbabwe's national trade union federation has spent two nights in a prison cell following his arrest for allegedly holding an illegal meeting, lawyers representing him said.


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Anti-riot police officers patrol the entrance of the High court building in Harare
Anti-riot police officers patrol the entrance of the High court building in Harare
Photograph by: PHILIMON BULAWAYO
Credit: REUTERS

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Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, and two of his colleagues, Michael Kandakutu and Percy Mcijo, were arrested in the north-western resort town of Victoria Falls on Sunday for "holding a meeting without notifying police," their lawyer, Kucaca Pulu, said.

Union officials said Matombo was arrested on the first stop of a tour of the country to consult with union members.

His is the latest in a series of arrests in the last three weeks that have included the heads of the country's umbrella organisation for civil society bodies, a senior human rights lawyer and an official from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) official who was found to have been tortured.

Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, was also detained and expelled from Zimbabwe in late October, despite an invitation from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The MDC, Nowak and several human rights watchdog organisations have warned of a resurgence in harassment by judicial authorities and police of opponents of President Robert Mugabe.

Such incidents had dropped sharply after Tsvangirai entered into a power-sharing agreement with the autocratic leader in February.

Tsvangirai, persuaded by regional leaders, has just ended a three-week boycott of cabinet meetings with Mugabe and his ministers which he called in frustration over Mugabe's party's resistance to reforms.

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Comments

Nov 10 2009 03:20:52 PM
mcritic
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I commented on this before. The JOC is running wild and doing their utmost to prevent further functioing of the GNU.

These are not the only people arrested. Abductions have started again and arrested people have included journalists, lwyers. NGO operatives and students.

They also arrested 259 defence force members for alleged theft of arms aat Pomona army camp - twelve of which were tortured to death.

hell has broken loose in Zimbabwe and Mugabe and JOC is running wild. Murder, torture and rape are their weapons and looting is also a norm. Aside from the above they burn down people's homes.

All should be in Th HHague before the International Court of Justice for crimes agaoinst humanity.
Nov 10 2009 06:07:38 PM
airbud
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Actually, this is no more than a "surge" in an ongoing process, especially with the rural areas, which is why ZANU is so desperate to keep the lid on the Media.

Apart from the ongoing diamond abuses, the ongoing farm invasions with whats left, the ongong rape situation against everybody, including children, due to the off duty youth militia, the ongoing theiving everywhere, the ongoing violent crime inc with some of the left over weapons ZANU handed out in the last election, the ongoing collapse of the Education, medical, banking, social, minig, investment sector etc etc etc.....

There is also widespread mob rule, inc against ZANU poilticians, and widespread intimidation of local MDC councils, who are being effectively run by the ZANU civil servanys and ZANU minister for local Govt Chombo.

As an example:

http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/news/zanu-pf-youth-demand-land/

And if you want to see the actual situation in Zim, generally, try:

http://www.sokwanele.com/zigwatch

Where they log the (known) breaches of the GPA, (3850 so far, 88.8% done by ZANU)

And that's just the GPA, let alone the general situation, which is why Zim is known as a "dressed up Somali".


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