date: 13 May 2008

embargo: For immediate release

Zimbabwe regime must release trade union leadership

The TUC has today (Tuesday) written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband and International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander urging them to do everything possible to free two jailed Zimbabwean trade union leaders.

Lovemore Matombo, President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), and Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU General Secretary, were arrested after speeches they made on 1 May (May Day) which referred to the election controversy and the ensuing campaign of intimidation.

In his letters, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber says:

'Mugabe's regime is clinging to power by its fingertips and it is picking on people it believes constitute a threat. Opposition activists have been beaten, tortured and killed, and now Mugabe's thugs are starting on the trade union movement. Thousands of teaching union members have been driven from their homes because of the role they played as honest and independent returning officers in the election, and now my opposite number has been incarcerated, and, we suspect, tortured.'

The Zimbabwean security services had been looking for the two union leaders since the May Day speeches, and on 6 May heavily armed police came to their homes. Last Thursday (8 May), Lovemore and Wellington voluntarily attended the Harare Central police station and were charged with 'inciting people to rise against the Government and reporting falsehoods about people being killed.'

This week the two were refused bail, an unprecedented move for the union leaders who have frequently been arrested (although never convicted) in the past. They are now detained in Harare until their next court appearance, scheduled for next Thursday (22 May).

The ZCTU has been one of the fiercest opponents of the Mugabe regime over the last decade and a half, and the opposition MDC candidate for the Presidency, Morgan Tsvangirai, was Wellington Chibebe's predecessor as ZCTU General Secretary.

Next month Lovemore Matombe is due to travel to London to see Douglas Alexander and hold talks with UK trade unions about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.

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Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (500 words) issued 13 May 2008