HARARE – Zimbabwe’s labour movement says it has recorded more than 2 300 cases of violation of workers’ rights in 2009, most of them committed by state security agents who it said have routinely assaulted and tortured union activists.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said the police and the state’s spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) have carried on attacks against workers and union leaders despite formation of a coalition government by the country’s main political leaders that has promised to restore the rule of law and to protect human rights.

President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a government of national unity last February that has managed to stabilise the economy and improve living conditions.

But the power-sharing administration looks unable to reform and restructure state security forces that remain fiercely loyal to Mugabe and have long been accused of committing violence and abuse against the veteran leader’s political opponents and other voices of dissension such as organised labour and civic rights groups.

The ZCTU said in its annual report released Thursday that state security agents arrested 78 workers last year and threatened or assaulted another 2 306 workers for taking part in union activities.

And in probably the worst cases of abuse recorded by the union last year, four workers were tortured by police in the resort town of Victoria Falls, while another three workers were shot and injured by police in the mining town of Zvishavane for protesting against non-payment of wages by employers.

The union said: “State agents particularly the police defied High Court orders that ruled in favour of the ZCTU …. 78 workers were arrested for their trade union activity, 2 306 workers were either assaulted or threatened, four workers were tortured in Victoria Falls, three workers were shot in Zvishavane, 175 workers were dismissed for embarking on strike.”

The ZCTU accused the CIO of waging a campaign of intimidation against labour activists and said in one case two agents of the secret service organ unlawfully kidnapped the union’s chairman for the eastern Rusape district, Amos Masumuse, after accusing him of cooperating with an international inquiry into torture of union leaders in Zimbabwe. 

The union said Masumuse only managed to escape from his captors by jumping from a moving vehicle they were using to ferry him to an unknown destination. 

In two other cases of intimidation, General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ) secretary general Gertrude Hambira had her home ransacked by gun-totting men believed to be CIO agents in November, while ZCTU president, Lovemore Matombo was also arrested in Hwange during the same month.

“Police officers in most regions except Masvingo disrupted some ZCTU activities. In some areas, unlawful arrest, detention, harassment, abductions and threats remained the order of the year.

“The perpetrators were state agents namely the police, CIO, ZANU PF members and company management. It is high time that business be sued for complicity in human rights violations,” said the ZCTU.

However the union, which did not give figures of abuses in 2008, said union rights abuses declined in most sectors in 2009 except for the agriculture sector “which is engulfed in lawless farm invasions”.

The ZCTU has previously criticised the unity government for its failure to reform the police to instill professionalism, calling last year for the immediate resignation of co-ministers of home affairs Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa for failing to ensure that police uphold the rule of the law. – ZimOnline