ZCTU and NCA activists and leaders released

By Tichaona Sibanda
12 November 2005

Police have released without charge all the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions demonstrators, who were arrested in Harare on Tuesday during a procession against poverty.

ZCTU spokesman Mlamleli Sibanda said all 118 activists including the president Lovemore Matombo and secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe were released after intense negotiations with the Attorney General's (AG) office.

The AG said the police did not have a strong case and that police will have to proceed by way of summons in the event they get new evidence against the accused.

Meanwhile, NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku and Misheck Shoko the mayor of Chitungwiza were released from police custody last night. A defiant Madhuku said it is high time authorities in the country realised that intimidation is no longer working to keep them quiet.

‘We have since crossed that boundary where we get intimidated easily. That practice is no longer working and the authorities know it. Whatever tactics they come up with, that will not stop us from pursuing our struggle for a new constitution,’ said Madhuku.

The mayor of Chitungwiza said he was arrested for addressing a meeting where he was outlining government’s concerns in providing water to people in his town.

Police wanted to charge him for a crime under a section of the criminal procedure and evidence act. If convicted, it is punishable by a death sentence. This suggestion by the police was thrown out by the attorney- general.