APPENDIX 4
Memorandum from the Commonwealth Trade
Union Council
1. We welcome the opportunity to submit
a written statement on Zimbabwe to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The CTUC is the umbrella body for trade union national centres
(equivalent of the TUC in the UK) throughout the Commonwealth.
We make representations to Commonwealth institutions and national
governments on issues of particular concern to trade unionists
and we organise education and training programmes with trade union
partners in the developing countries of the Commonwealth. Our
Chairperson is Zainal Rampak, President of the Malaysia TUC.
2. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
has been a member of the CTUC since its foundation and we have
had a close working relationship with the ZCTU for over 20 years,
maintaining regular contact with senior leadership. Since the
elections in June 2000 when opposition candidates won all the
parliamentary seats in the main urban centres of Harare and Bulawayo,
there has been a consistent intimidation campaign against trade
unionists and workers. This has continued following the Presidential
election in March 2002. Although the Movement for Democratic Change
grew out of the trade union movement, there is a distinct separation
between the MDC and the ZCTU, which represents workers across
the political spectrum and has no political affiliation. Despite
this, the Mugabe regime perceives normal trade union activities
as political. The government has registered splinter unions in
an attempt to split the labour movement and form a rival Zimbabwe
Federation of Trade Unions. There are examples of continued harassment
of the ZCTU.
3. On 14 March 2002, police in plain clothes
entered the ZCTU headquarters in Harare, threatened that they
would use force to disband the Executive Council meeting unless
they were allowed on the premises, and finally prevented the ZCTU
from proceeding with the meeting. The Zimbabwe Government stated
that the police were acting in accordance with the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA) which prohibits public meetings without
prior notice to the police. On 11 April, the Zimbabwe High Court
found that the ZCTU meeting did not qualify as a public gathering
and therefore that the police did not have a right to monitor
the meeting or any similar meeting to be held in the future. Following
a complaint about this incident to the Governing Body of the ILO,
the ILO reminded the Zimbabwe Government that entry by police
into trade union premises without a warrant constituted a serious
and unjustifiable interference in trade union activities and that
respect for the principles of freedom of association required
that the public authorities exercise great restraint in relation
to intervention in the internal affairs of trade unions.
4. On 9 December 2002, nine trade union
leaders, including the General Secretary of the ZCTU, were arrested
while attending a ZCTU symposium. The General Secretary, Wellington
Chibebe, was beaten with a broomstick and one police officer pointed
a gun at him and told him he could be history in a short space
of time. All nine were detained for 48 hours and charged under
the POSA, with police stating they wanted to overthrow a constitutionally-elected
government. The Attorney General's office refused to prosecute,
however, saying there was insufficient evidence and all nine were
released.
5. On 19 December 2002, Mr Kele Zidana,
Director of Human and Trade Union Rights at the International
Confederation of Free Trade Union's African Regional Organisation,
arrived at Harare International Airport where he was due to have
meetings with the ZCTU and was refused admission by the Department
of Immigration. Earlier in the year, a Norwegian trade unionist
who was due to meet the ZCTU was denied entry. These denials of
international trade union contact with ZCTU are seen as further
examples of harassment.
6. The Zimbabwe government has now passed
the Labour Relations Amendment Bill which seeks to stifle demonstrations
and strike actions by workers. It has been condemned by the ZCTU
and also by the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe who voiced
their concern that it would lead to an unstable macro-economic
climate and further disinvestment. It is another example of the
Zimbabwe government's efforts to undermine and eventually destroy
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
7. Every effort to destabilise the ZCTU
has been met by the resolution of the international trade union
movement to continue and extend solidarity and we will continue
to do this until trade union and human rights become a reality
in Zimbabwe.
CTUC Director
14 January 2003
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