Farm Workers Struggle One More Step Toward Democracy in Zimbabwe
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Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg send us a report from their journey through Africa. Read more at their blog, Border Jumpers.
Gertrude Hambira doesn’t look like someone who gets arrested regularly. Nor do the other women and men in suits who work with her at the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ). The union was formed in the mid-1980s to protect farm laborers. But arrest, harassment and even torture have been regular occupational hazards for Hambira—who is general secretary of GAPWUZ—and her staff for many years.
Unfortunately, things have not gotten much better since the 2008 elections, when Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe refused to cede power to the democratically elected Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader. The resulting power-sharing agreement has left the two sides battling for control as the nation plummets deeper into unemployment and poverty. At least 90 percent of the population is not part of the formal workforce.
Zimbabwe Continues Arrests, Assaults Against Union Members
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Earlier this week, Zimbabwe police arrested more than 70 members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), including Secretary General Wellington Chibebe.
According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the ZCTU organized peaceful marches to protest against the financial crisis in Zimbabwe by delivering petitions to banks. Chibebe and ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo succeeded in handing the ZCTU petition to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Chibebe was arrested, with nine other people, while he was addressing workers just after the delivery. Arrests and assaults were reported in the cities of Harare, Gweru, Zvishavane and Bulawayo as trade unionists delivered petitions to banks across the country.
The ZCTU announced late yesterday that 18 protestors, including Chibebe, had been released without charges.
