The leader of a Zimbabwe teachers’ union which has called its members out on indefinite strike, Raymond Majongwe, has been ”seriously injured” while in police custody, his lawyer Tererayi Gunje said on Thursday.
”He has been beaten up and when I saw him yesterday (Wednesday) night he couldn’t sit on his own. I think he has broken ribs and internal bleeding,” said Gunje. Police late on Thursday finally agreed to have Majongwe seen by a doctor. According to Gunje, his client will remain in police custody until he appears in court for remand on Friday.
Under Zimbabwean law a suspect has to be brought before a magistrate within forty-eight hours of being arrested. Police have to apply for permission to keep somebody in custody longer than the forty-eight hours. Majongwe gave himself up to the police on Wednesday, the second day of a teachers’ strike called by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), after police had been to his house looking for him, the national coordinator of the PTUZ, Innocent Shibanda, told AFP.
A representative for the police, Andrew Phiri, said that Gunje’s allegations would be investigated. Phiri confirmed on Wednesday that the police were holding Majongwe and that he was due to be charged under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
The POSA makes it an offence for ”any person who, acting in concert with one or more other persons, forcibly invades the rights of other people”, said Phiri. Neither Gunje nor Phiri was unable to confirm that PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou was also arrested on Wednesday, as the union has claimed.
Phiri has said, however, that Zhou ”is also wanted to answer the same allegations as Majongwe.” The police have alleged that Majongwe, Zhou and two others went around schools threatening teachers who wanted to work and disrupting classes.
The PTUZ has called a strike to demand a 100% salary increase backdated to January and a 100% cost of living adjustment backdated to June. A high school teacher in Zimbabwe takes home 20 000 Zimbabwe dollars ($364/euros) a month.
The response to the strike call has been mixed, with some teachers, mainly in urban areas, reporting for duty but not teaching. Education, Sport and Culture Minister Aneas Chigwedere has called the strike illegal, even after conceding last week that teachers in Zimbabwe are the lowest paid in the southern African region. – Sapa-AFP