Posted on 11/08/2005 5:59:59 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Police on Tuesday detained the entire leadership of Zimbabwe's trade union umbrella organization to muzzle protests against worsening economic conditions, union officials said.
News of the arrests of all the top leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions, representing 30 worker organizations with 1 million members, came in a statement expressing "utter shock and dismay" by the trade union congress in neighboring South Africa.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions had scheduled a midday march to "remind government and employers that workers are hungry, angry and tired."
The South African statement said that those arrested included the president of the congress, Lovemore Matombo, and his secretary-general, Wellington Chibebe. The statement said at least 200 people were reported arrested in Harare alone.
Ahead of the planned march, police mounted roadblocks on all routes into Harare, stopping any vehicle having more than one passenger. Paramilitaries with dogs, shields and batons were conspicuous throughout the capital.
Witnesses said about 10 trades unionists were arrested and hustled away by police in downtown Harare at lunchtime as they prepared to deliver a petition to the Labor Ministry demanding new minimum wages, improved conditions, and free treatment for millions of HIV and AIDS sufferers.
Union officials said police swooped overnight on leading activists in several parts of the country and detained them even though the union had notified police of the marches, as required under new security laws.
Nicholas Goche, minister of labor and social welfare, had denounced the protest as "a political gimmick" but stopped short of declaring an outright ban.
In recent years, police have moved without warning to break up any critical demonstrations.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in a tailspin since the government in 2000 began confiscating formerly white-owned farms, decimating agricultural production in what used to be southern Africa's breadbasket.
Unemployment is 80 percent, inflation 359 percent, and U.N. agencies say 4.2 million Zimbabweans, mostly in rural areas, urgently require food relief to survive until the next harvests in spring.
Zimbabwean government officials often blame drought and Western-imposed sanctions and boycotts for the crisis.
But in a speech in Zimbabwe last week, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell said that gross mismanagement and corruption had wrecked the once prosperous economy. He also challenged the government to admit that the demolition of thousands of homes, shacks and market stalls earlier this year had left a humanitarian crisis.
"Mr. Dell, go to hell," state radio quoted President Robert Mugabe as saying Tuesday.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli on Tuesday said the United States would not shy away from "speaking out on behalf of the poor and downtrodden and disenfranchised" in Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, this might be called repression.
In California, this could be called a good start.
Ya just can't make this stuff up.
In due time, he will meet a just end, I hope it is Mussolini or Ceaucescu like, not that I want to see him suffer, mind you.. he's approaching 80 so hopefully his clock will expire soon.
"In due time, he will meet a just end, I hope it is Mussolini or Ceaucescu like,"
I vote for Ceaucescu like, possibly with an apple in his mouth as an ode to the family farm : )
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