"The mass arrests of union leaders in Zimbabwe by the Mugabe regime is the final nail in the coffin for Zimbabwe democracy" CTU president Ross Wilson said today.The International Confederation of Trade Unions CFTU, of which the NZCTU is a member, has lodged a protest with the International Labour Organisation over the wave of anti-union arrests and violent assaults being carried out over the past 48 hours in Zimbabwe by the country's government.
To date, some 41 trade union leaders have already been detained in Harare and more than 100 in Mutare, including almost the entire leadership of the ICFTU-affiliated Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
In Bulawayo, several union leaders were subjected to violent assault by government forces, and police refused to allow ambulances to ferry the injured to hospital. ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo and Secretary General Wellington Chibhebhe are amongst those detained.
"The ZCTU was the last bastion of democratic opposition to the Mugabwe regime and the targeting of union leaders follows the historical pattern in the move to despotism" Mr Wilson said
The ICFTU is particularly concerned about the situation of several union officials being held in secret locations, and the apparent targeting of a number of women trade unionists by the regime.
"Zimbabwe is a country in deep crisis, and the actions of President Mugabe's government today are those of a desperate regime. Only when human and trade union right are fully respected, and the people of Zimbabwe can live in conditions of full respect for democracy, can the enormous task of rebuilding the country's economy really begin", said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder.