ZCTU sue Police 29- 11 - 06

FIFTEEN ZCTU officials and activists who were brutally assaulted at Matapi police station by state security agencies over the September 13 ZCTU mass protests are demanding damages from the Minister of Home Affairs amounting to a staggering $1 340 billion.

They are also claiming further damages suffered for unlawful arrest and deprivation of liberty in the sum of $920 million.

Each victim is claiming between $60m and $80m.

The fifteen were arrested during the protests, separated from others and taken to Matapi where they were assaulted using baton sticks and truncheons. They sustained varying degrees of injuries and some are still in plasters three months after the beatings.

The Commissioner of Police, chief Superintendent Murwira, Superintendent Tenderere, Officer Commanding Mbare District, Officer Commanding Harare District Chief Superintendent Tavengwa, Officer in Charge, Matapi Police Station and Chief Inspector Mukuze have also been notified of the victims’ intention to sue them.

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) confirmed through a medical report that the fifteen were assaulted while in police custody contrary to claims by the police that they sustained the injuries when they tried to jump from a moving vehicle after they had been arrested.

“…these were injuries consistent with beatings with blunt objects, heavy enough to cause fractures (9 fractures in 7 individuals) to hands and arms and severe and multiple soft tissue injuries to the backs of the head, shoulders, arms and buttocks and thighs,” reads a press statement released by ZADHR.

It was virtually impossible for the victims to jump from the moving vehicle as it was locked from outside and was moving at high speed. On arrival at Matapi, the first pair to alight from the vehicle was Wellington Chibebe and Dennis Chiwara. They were taken into a holding cell where five police officers in uniform were waiting. They were severely tortured for about 20 minutes and thereafter other victims were ordered into the cells two at a time.

Toendepi Shonhe was paired with Todini Todini, Moses Ngondo with Tonderai Nyahunzvi, Lovemore Matombo with Tichaona Basket, Lucia Matibenga with Ian Makone, Steven Mutasa with Rwatipedza Chigwagwa, Goerge Nkiwane with Nqobizitha Khumalo, and James Gumbi was beaten on his own.

The assaults that started at Construction House were captured on video. The video has already been making rounds in civic society and trade union circles in the country and abroad.

In papers submitted through the victims’ lawyers, the claims for damages are made on the grounds that the assaults and torture were exceedingly grave, savage and caused serious harm. For some chances of a permanent disability are very high. The victims also suffered long lasting physical and psychological effects arising from the torture, and were detained in cells that were condemned by the Supreme Court as unfit for human habitation.

More than 147 people were arrested countrywide and charged under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

Uniformed forces are fast gaining notoriety for severely assaulting unarmed civilians sometimes with fatal results.

The action by the ZCTU officials and activists come hard on the heels of the Ziscosteel shootings judgment where the army was held accountable for the killing of innocent workers during a peaceful collective job action.

Some assaults go unreported as victims fearing for their lives keep quiet and suffer alone. Human and trade union rights violations in Zimbabwe continue unabated despite the government’s denial.