South Africa’s Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) reported on Wednesday that a raid took place last week by four Zimbabwe police officers on the offices of its counterpart, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
In a statement released by Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven, it noted that the northern regional office in Chinhoyi — about 100km from Harare — was raided last Friday and over 2 000 flyers which contained information about the ZCTU’s campaign against high taxation were confiscated.
Craven reported union official Mlamleli Sibanda as saying that the ZCTU was saddened by the action of the police “and views this as violation of trade union rights by interfering in the activities of the trade union movement”.
Sibanda said: “This comes barely a month after the [Zimbabwean] government was requested by the International Labour Organisation to take measures to ensure the right to freely organise and associate is not impeded in law and practice.
“These flyers do not contain subversive material, which can cause mass action as the police officers suggested. They are part of our campaign to protect the interest of our members.”
ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe has written protest letters to Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche, and Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi.
Another protest letter has been written to the officer commanding Makonde district, under whose jurisdiction the police officers worked, the ZCTU reported. – I-Net Bridge