Zimbabwe: Trade unionist under threat

southern africa | repression / prisoners | non-anarchist press Friday March 05, 2010 22:11 by International Union of Food Workers

Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of Zimbabwe's General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union, has been forced into hiding following harrassment by the police. The International Union of Food workers is urging people to call on the Zimbabwean government to provide Hambira ‘with effective protection and to carry out a prompt, full and impartial investigation into the circumstances of her attack in her family home.’

The General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ) in Zimbabwe is again under attack. General secretary Gertrude Hambira is currently in hiding and at least one official under arrest.

On 19 February, Hambira and other union officials were summoned to Police General Headquarters where they were questioned about a documentary, House of Justice, and its accompanying report, If something is wrong: The invisible suffering of commercial farm workers and their families due to "Land Reform". This film was launched under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in November 2009 and has been in the public domain ever since. The film contains farmworkers’ testimonies of murder, torture and violence perpetrated by state agents.

Everyday, since 19 February, police detectives have visited the GAPWUZ HQ to question and harass staff. Gertrude was forced into hiding but police have continued to stalk the unions' staff. On 25 February, two officials were arrested – the assistant general secretary, Gift Muti, and president Manjemanje Munyanyi. Gift Muti was later released but Bro. Munyanyi remains in police custody.

The International Union of Food workers (IUF) has called on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to launch an urgent intervention to protect Gertrude Hambira and the other GAPWUZ staff. In a letter to ILO director general Juan Somavia, IUF general secretary Ron Oswald calls on the ILO office ‘to contact both the President and the Prime Minster of Zimbabwe to convey our concerns and to insist that Hambira is not harmed and her physical and psychological well-being is fully assured’.

Similar messages have also been sent to Zimbabwean missions in several countries and Amnesty International has launched a support appeal which IUF is supporting. Click here to link to the Amnesty campaign and to fax a message to the Zimbabwe government.