by Mike Hall, Sep 25, 2006

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has joined the ranks of the worst anti-union goons by saying Zimbabwe’s union leaders who were severely beaten by police at a Sept. 13 demonstration deserved the beating.

Mugabe’s comments followed his country’s refusal Friday to allow a delegation of U.S. trade unionists, led by AFL-CIO Vice President William Lucy, into Zimbabwe to meet with injured leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Lucy is also secretary-treasurer of AFSCME.

Mugabe told The Herald, the country’s official newspaper:

The police were right in dealing sternly with the ZCTU leaders.…Some people are crying foul that they were assaulted, yes you get a beating.

At the Sept. 13 demonstration in Harare, some 1,500 ZCTU activists were peacefully protesting the nation’s abysmal economic conditions. Witnesses say police attacked the crowd and brutally beat many of the union members and arrested 265. Among those arrested were ZCTU General Secretary Wellington Chibebe, winner of the AFL-CIO’s 2003 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award, ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo and First Vice President Lucia Matibenga.

International human and workers’ rights groups have long-condemned Mugabe’s repressive regime, which has ruled the country since 1980. Reuters reports a Harare magistrate has ordered an investigation into brutal beatings by police. Given Mugabe’s dictatorial rule, there is pessimism that any charges will result.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said:

We strongly condemn the continued repression of union activity and solidarity and urge the Government of Zimbabwe to respect the principles of freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively, as enshrined in ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

Other international union leaders also have condemned the attacks.

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