Zimbabwe cracks down on trade unionists

Zimbabwe cracks down on trade unionists

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By Staff Reporter

POLICE on Monday questioned Collin Gwiyo, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) deputy secretary-general over his role in the invitation of a Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) delegation to Zimbabwe, in what trade union officials said is a looming reprisal against ZCTU officials for the botched COSATU visit.

Gwiyo was quizzed by Chitungwiza police when he went to them after dozens of armed policemen had descended at his home on Sunday looking for. Gwiyo, who was not at home at the time of the raid, said the police had left a message for him to report to a Chitungwiza police station on Monday.

Wellington Chibhebhe, the ZCTU secretary-general said Gwiyo, in the company of his lawyers, went to the police who laid two charges against him. One was on what role he played on the COSATU invitation while the other charge was in connection with violence that allegedly broke out in Chitungwiza last week.

Said Chibhebhe: “They wanted to find out what role Gwiyo, who was the acting secretary-general during the COSATU visit, played. When the police realized that the invitation for COSATU was made by the ZCTU as an organization they dropped the charge.”

On the violence in Chitungwiza, Gwiyo is expected to appear in court this Friday, he said.

A 13-member COSATU delegation on a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe, which had defied orders from the government to stop the visit, was last week detained and bundled into a minibus and dumped at the Beitbridge border post.

Chibhebhe said the government was cracking down on ZCTU members over the COSATU mission because it had left a lot of egg on the face of President Robert Mugabe’s government.

“What ever Thabo Mbeki may say the issue at hand is that COSATU and the whole wide world now know the situation in Zimbabwe through the COSATU debacle,” he said.

In South African government circles, COSATU’s decision to continue with its mission in spite of objections by the Zimbabwe government has been described as “unnecessary embarrassment” while on the other hand, there is understanding among leftwing ANC members who have ties with the South African Communist Party and COSATU.
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