Arrests of trade unionists shameful

It is heartbreaking that innocent people had to spend four nights in filthy police cells and only freed after the intervention of the courts. The ZCTU, however welcomes the courts ruling that the police had no business disrupting the ZCTU meeting and arresting innocent trade unionists. The infamous POSA clearly does not cover trade unions but the police continue to disrupt trade union activities in the name of POSA. The police should be undoubtedly ashamed of their actions.

The comments made by the police through state owned media that the ZCTU should have sought police clearance before holding the meeting smack of a police force that acts on political decisions and not on whether one has a case to answer or not . This is not the kind of police that Zimbabweans want, but unfortunately we have to live with such. This points to the fact that we definitely need to reform the police so that we have a professional non-partisan force.

The current wave of arrests in the country clearly points to a severe political crisis as we believe the arrests are politically motivated. The ZCTU has no faith in the current political dispensation to ensure that fundamental freedoms are protected. It is surprising that the arrests in the past two weeks have been occurring in Victoria Falls, a key tourist destination. This in itself should strike fear in any potential visitor to the town. It would seem the government is scoring own goals and they have no one else to blame except themselves.

The ZCTU urges the police to always stay within the framework of the law, concentrate on applying the law as is in Statutes and leave the interpretation to the courts. The ZCTU expresses its disappointment in the actions of the inclusive government, particularly those of the co-Ministers of Home Affiars Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi. As stated in our previous statements, the two gentlemen have failed this nation. The best present they can offer Zimbabweans is to resign.