Press statement issued by the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
To receive future statements, visit www.cosatu.org.za/mailman/listinfo/press
Thursday, December 11
COSATU condemns in the strongest possible terms the arrest on Monday evening of the Secretary General and seven other officials of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. According to our information, Wellington Chibebe and his comrades are still being held in Harare without charge. We call on the government and security establishment of Zimbabwe to release the trade unionist immediately.
It concerns us, as it should concern every human rights activist, that these arrests should happen on the eve of International Human Rights Day, celebrated yesterday on December 10. Zimbabwe's government should forthwith cease its wanton intimidation of independent trade unionists and other components of civil society. The arrests are in clear violation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions on free association and other fundamental labour and human rights.
It should further concern us all that one of the detainees is the mother of an infant, who is being held in the cell with her. This is needless cruelty, which all freedom loving people in Southern Africa should abhor.
We call on our government, the SADC, and the African Union to intervene immediately to protect fundamental human rights in the region. By so doing our governments will demonstrate their unequivocal commitment to the founding principles of the AU and the peer review structures proposed in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Anything less than this will send the wrong signal to our potential friends and backers internationally. More importantly, however, it will send the wrong signal to our own citizens in Southern Africa.
COSATU Press Statement
Vukani Mde
COSATU Spokesperson
eMail
082-821-7456
011-339-4911
Visit the COSATU web site at http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/latest.html for copies of our most recent press statements.
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