A Zimbabwean court on Tuesday ordered a probe into allegations that labour union leaders were tortured by police while in custody awaiting trail for attempting to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s rule.
Harare magistrate William Bhila ordered an investigation into claims that leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were beaten up in police custody, and postponed their trial until October 17.
”On allegations of torture it is also ordered that further investigations be carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department,” he said.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama had asked for postponement of the trial, saying some of his clients were still recovering from their injuries and were unable to follow proceedings.
”Other people are incapacitated, some have to be carried and be brought to court in ambulances,” he said.
Lawyers for the ZCTU members said secretary general Wellington Chibebe had a fractured arm while 29 others sustained bruises and cuts after being assaulted in police custody.
The ZCTU leaders were forced to abandon plans for a series of anti-government marches over the spiralling cost of living when police arrested them for breaching the tough Public Order and Security Act on September 13.
The ZCTU had hoped to rope in thousands to denounce fuel and food shortages, more than 1 200% inflation and 80% unemployment — which critics blame on economic mismanagement by Mugabe’s government.
Mugabe last week backed Zimbabwean police for using brute force to pre-empt the protest, saying: ”Police were right in dealing sternly … because the trade unionists want to become a law unto themselves.”
The 82-year-old leader said: ”We cannot have a situation where people decide to sit in places not allowed and when the police remove them, they say no,” a state-run daily quoted Mugabe as saying.
”We can’t have that, that is a revolt to the system. When the police say move, move. If you don’t move, you invite the police to use force,” Mugabe said.
Demonstrations by the ZCTU, formerly headed by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, threatened to bring Zimbabwe to its knees in the late 1990s as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.
However, opponents of Mugabe have been unable to take advantage of the current economic crisis as a result of internal divisions within the opposition and fear of the security services.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in September expressed its at violence against Zimbabwe trade unions.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said a statement by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe condoned the use of violence by police against Zimbabwean trade unions.
Craven said Mugabe was happy with police dealing sternly with ZCTU leaders during their September 13 protests.
”This is nothing less than a justification of brutality and torture against workers who were peacefully exercising their right to demonstrate,” said Craven. — AFP, Sapa