A Zimbabwe teachers’ union leader was detained by police on Thursday after his organisation publicised a list of attacks on its members since March’s disputed elections, his lawyer said.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, was picked up at the Harare High Court where he was attending a case of fellow union leaders arrested last week and was now being held at the central police station, said his lawyer Alec Muchadehama.
”He has not been charged but the police have recorded a statement from him asking him to explain how his union obtained the information published in the press about teachers who are being victimised.”
There was no immediate comment from police on his arrest but the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said it was believed to be linked to announcements posted in the country’s only independent Sunday newspaper, the Standard, chronicling the numbers of teachers who have been victims of political violence.
”We are not sure on what charges he is being [held] … but suspect he is to be questioned on press adverts he placed in papers of teachers who are being beaten and harassed at their workplaces during the current wave of political violence,” the ZCTU said in a statement.
According to the two main teachers’ unions, schoolteachers in some parts of the country have been targeted by ruling party militias accusing them of contributing to the ruling Zanu-PF party’s failure to garner enough votes to retain power in the March 29 elections.
Zanu-PF lost control of Parliament at the elections while veteran leader Robert Mugabe also lost the first round of a simultaneous presidential ballot and now faces a run-off against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. – AFP
