Alarm bells have been raised over the safety of hundreds of Zimbabwean workers, trade union leaders, students and civil society activists detained during a wave of protests in the country this week.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions information officer Mlamuleli Sibanda said on Thursday that at least four HIV-positive workers have been denied access to medication or medical assistance since their arrest on Tuesday. He said all the detainees were denied lunch on Wednesday, have been forced to remove their shoes and are being kept in filthy cells.
On Wednesday, the International Confederation of Trade Unions said it had received reports that the congress general secretary Wellington Chibhebhe ”may have been tortured while in detention”. Sibanda denied knowledge of this but expressed concern that, 48 hours after their arrest, the detainees had not been brought to court.
Chibhebhe and congress president Lovemore Matombo are among the 118 people arrested in the capital of Harare. More than 200 unionists and workers were arrested around the country under the notorious Public Order and Safety Act, which states that gatherings of three or more persons must seek police permission. They are being held in cells in Harare and Chitungwiza, 25km from the capital.
ZimOnline reports that, on Wednesday afternoon, armed police also swooped on the restive University of Zimbabwe campus, beating up students and arresting six leaders. The students were planning to march to the Ministry of Education offices in central Harare to present a petition to the minister of education. It was intended to urge him to improve fast-deteriorating learning and living conditions at the run-down campus.
The congress leaders and workers arrested were also marching to the Ministries of Labour and Finance to present petitions warning the government that workers were ”hungry and angry” after six years of an uninterrupted economic recession.
Also being detained by the police is the chair of the civic alliance of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Lovemore Madhuku, after his group organised demonstrations last Saturday to demand a new Constitution for Zimbabwe.
Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi warned that ”the government will continue to arrest those who wilfully break the law.”
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, in a statement condemning the arrests, warned of possible civil conflict.
Tsvangirai, whose Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party is divided over how to confront President Robert Mugabe, said Zimbabwe stood ”on the precipice of a full-scale national conflict”.
”Let me warn the Mugabe regime that targeting civil society for regular attacks means declaring a war against the people — and the people shall respond.”
Tsvangirai, who has in recent weeks faced an open revolt by MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube and other top lieutenants opposed to his decision to boycott a Senate election at the end of the month, said: ”Our structures accept the demands from the people for an onslaught that will deliver a result necessary for the introduction of democracy and good governance in our land. We are not going to compromise with a dictator.”
He has insisted the MDC should not take part in the Senate poll or any other election unless there were conditions for a free and fair poll.
But Ncube’s faction is adamant they should contest, because boycotting would surrender political space to Zanu-PF. They also argue that the MDC national council voted for participation.