Zimbabwe Call for Action

Zimbabwe Call for Action

TUC-ACTSA

28 July 2007

The TUC and Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) are calling for action to protest the arrest of trade unionists for the simple offence of holding an HIV/AIDS workshop.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) HIV/AIDS Coordinator, Mildred Giyava and an International Labour Organisation (ILO) Specialist on HIV/AIDS, Ms. Hungwe, were taken in for questioning by Kadoma Police on Friday 27 July. They were facilitating an HIV/AIDS workshop for one of the ZCTU affiliates, Pulp and Paper Workers' Union in Kadoma.

Police claim the ZCTU should have sought clearance first before conducting the workshop. They are currently being interrogated by the Police. The police have been provided with the 2002 High Court judgment barring the police from interfering with ZCTU activities but despite this they continue to disrupt activities.

Please email the Zimbabwean High Commissioner, H.E. Gabriel Machinga, to protest against the unlawful police involvement in ZCTU affairs.

Email: zimlondon@yahoo.co.uk

H.E. Gabriel Machinga,

I write in protest of the unlawful police involvement in Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) affairs. In contravention to the 2002 High Court judgment barring the police from interfering with ZCTU activities, Kadoma Police have disrupted and broken up a workshop on HIV/AIDS aimed at educating the Pulp and Paper Workers' Union in Kadoma.

It is an outrage that the government is sanctioning such measures and that there is a desire to prevent its people from protecting themselves against HIV/AIDS.

I stand in solidarity with the ZCTU who have expressed its outrage and serious concern at the removal and questioning of HIV/AIDS Coordinator, Mildred Giyava and an International Labour Organisation (ILO) Specialist on HIV/AIDS, Ms. Hungwe. The international community supports democracy and human rights and stands firmly alongside all the innocent victims of this struggle and all who have suffered at the hands of the Mugabe regime.

Please pass on my deep disgust with the present treatment of trade unionists to the Zimbabwean government. We demand that they start adhering to basic civic rights.

Yours sincerely