Entire union leadership in hiding over police threats

By Alex Bell
01 March 2010

The entire leadership of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ) has gone underground after a series of police raids, arrests and threats against them.

According to lawyer Trust Maanda, the raids have been a direct response to the release of a shock report and documentary last year which the union produced exposing violent abuse of workers on farms seized by the Robert Mugabe regime. Maanda confirmed that Gertrude Hambira, the union’s Secretary General, was in hiding since last Wednesday. Hambira had been interrogated that day for two hours at the police national headquarters by 17 senior officers of the Joint Operations Command (JOC), which combines the country’s military, police and intelligence service.

The panel of security officials stated that the report and documentary contained very serious allegations for which Hambira should be ‘behind bars.’ Hambira and her colleagues were eventually released but the security officials warned that they would call on her again. A second raid was carried out on Hambira’s office on Friday in which two officials were arrested, but released after a few hours. The threats and harassment have now seen the rest of GAPWUZ’s leadership go underground in fear for their lives. Lawyers say it is unprecedented and illegal for the JOC to carry out interrogations and issue threats.
The damning GAPWUZ report and documentary expose the devastating effects of the so called land ‘reform’ programme on the livelihood of farm workers. The documentary entitled ‘House of Justice’ contains 26 minutes of footage laying bare the evidence of human rights violations targeting farm workers over the ten years of Robert Mugabe’s land grab campaign. It also details top government officials’ involvement in the torture, harassment and eviction of farm workers in the chaotic land seizures.

Another report, ‘If Something is wrong,’ which accompanies the documentary also highlights the impact of the land reform exercise on the farm workers during the past ten years. This is the first report on the so called ‘land reform’ to deal solely with the experiences of farm workers and makes for sobering reading. The report balances statistical evidence from farm workers with shocking narrative examples of the types of violations they have experienced. It also provides damning evidence that the violence perpetrated on the farms has been largely targeted at farm workers.