Three members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) who were arrested and allegedly assaulted by police on Wednesday had still not received treatment by Friday morning.
ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo, first vice-president Lucia Matibenga and secretary general Wellington Chibebe were allegedly assaulted by Zimbabwean police officers at the Matapi police station in Mbare after they held a protest against poverty.
Matombo, Matibenga and Chibebe sat in the middle of a street when they saw the police coming and were then arrested, said national police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena. He said they were arrested for participating in an illegal demonstration.
Spokesperson for the ZCTU, Mlamleli Sibanda, said Chibebe was admitted to hospital on Friday morning with a fractured arm and bruised head and that Matombo and Matibenga had still not recevied any medical attention.
But Bvudzijena said all three members had been treated on Friday morning.
He said Matombo, Chibebe and Matibenga were only admitted to hospital on Friday because the degrees of the injuries had to be ascertained before sending them for medical treatment.
Sibanda said in a statement that Matombo and Chibebe could not manage to stand after the alleged assault and had to change their clothes because they were soaked in blood.
Bzudzijena said: “Where would one be able to get a change of clothes in police cells? There’s no need for people to change anything.”
Sibanda told the Mail & Guardian Online that the police were trying to conceal the assault.
“The police are brutal here, they are always assaulting people. It’s a warning to say that [the police] can do whatever they want with us,” he said.
Bvudzijena said the Zimbabwe police force were investigating the assault allegations. “We investigate ourselves. There is no independent authority,” he said.
Bvudzijena said the court case would be on Friday afternoon. Sibanda believes that the three members will be charged under the New Criminal (Law Codification and Reform) Act.
Bvudzijena also said that Chibebe was arrested in August when he allegedly “pushed around and attacked” a police officer at a road block after he refused to let the officer search his car.