Update from the ZCTU on yesterday’s arrests

This update from the ZCTU in light of yesterday’s protests (more on the anti-poverty protest and arrests from the BBC and Reuters).

The 120-ZCTU activists including Wellington Chibebe and Lovemore Matombo the ZCTU President are still in Police custody but have all been transfered to Chitungwiza 25 Kilometres outside Harare. Reports we have received but not yet verified indicate that Wellington Chibebe and a few others were tortured last night. The Police have not given any reasons for transferering the activists to Chitungwiza.

Among the people arrested are about 20 people living with HIV/AIDS who can not assess treatment at the moment and five women with babies and other disabled people. This situation is particularly worrying as we now fear that there might be some fatalities because of the conditions these people are in.

The ZCTU protest demands included the following (see more at ISO Zimbabwe):

• An immediate raise in the minimum wage. The current Poverty line is $ 10 million
• A reduction in PAYE to a maximum of 30%
• A reduction in VAT
• Provision of affordable anti-retrovirals (ARVs)

Zimbabwe, ZCTU, Police, Poverty, Torture, HIV/AIDS

This entry was posted by Sokwanele2 on Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 at 12:28 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.