International Labour Organisation urged to intervene in Zim union’s harassment

By Alex Bell
03 March 2010

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has been urged to intervene on the behalf of Zimbabwe’s General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ), as the union’s leadership remains in hiding over police threats and harassment.

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations has made a written appeal to the ILO to intervene. The letter urges the ILO to urgently contact the unity government in an effort to ensure that GAPWUZ officials do not come to any harm.

The entire union leadership went underground after increased threats and harassment by officials from the Joint Operations Command (JOC), and a number of police raids on the union’s offices in Harare. The raids have been in response to the release of a shock report and documentary last year, exposing the violent abuse of workers on farms seized by the Robert Mugabe regime. Gertrude Hambira, the union’s Secretary General, has been in hiding since last Wednesday and has since fled to the safety of South Africa, where’s she said to be staying in a safe house.

‘We request your office to contact both the President and the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe to convey our concerns and to insist that Hambira is not harmed and her physical and psychological well-being is fully assured,’ the letter to the ILO reads.

The ILO’s intervention to help Hambira has previously been requested when the union leader was in hiding last year. She fled to South Africa shortly before the release of the documentary and report, after a failed abduction attempt was made at her home. Hambira wasn’t at home at the time, but her husband was left shaken after being questioned over his wife’s whereabouts. She spent a week in hiding before risking possible arrest to release the report and documentary.

This time around Hambira fled into hiding after being interrogated for two hours a week ago by 17 senior JOC officers. The 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 full scale raid was then carried out on Hambira’s office on Friday in which two officials were arrested, but released after a few hours. Another raid on the offices on Monday saw the rest of GAPWUZ’s leadership go underground in fear for their lives.

South Africa’s trade union federation, COSATU has also expressed its anger over the situation, saying in a statement that it is concerned about the ‘concerted harassment and continued threats of arrests’ against the union leadership.

“We seek to relay our concerns to the ruling authorities in Zimbabwe, particularly the Ministers responsible for police, military and security forces to ensure the safety and security of Ms Hambira and to issue our instructions that such harassment and threats of arrests should immediately cease,” COSATU said.
The 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 detailing the horrifying human rights violations targeting farm workers over the ten years of 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. The report, ‘If Something is wrong,’ also highlights the impact of the land reform exercise on the farm workers during the past ten years, and provides damning evidence that the violence perpetrated on the farms has been largely targeted at farm workers.

“The documentary and the report compiled on the plight of farm workers in particular and all workers in general, owing to the political situation in Zimbabwe, should serve as a reminder to Zimbabweans that there is a need to heal and unite the country by confronting challenges, including those contained in a documentary and report,” COSATU added in its statement.

Meanwhile, human rights organisation Amnesty International has started an on-line campaign, urging the public to send a letter to the authorities in Zimbabwe over Hambira’s exile. The letters can be sent to Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa and Augustine Chihuri, the Police Commissioner General, to ensure Hambira’s protection. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=668