SIXTEEN leaders and members of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) will on Thursday 13 January 2022 spend a second night in detention, after they were arrested on Wednesday 12 January 2022 by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers during an anti-government protest held in Harare.
Source: ARTUZ leaders to spend second night in detention over salary protest – The Zimbabwean
The ARTUZ leaders and members who include Obert Masaraure, who heads
the teachers union and are detained at Harare Central Police Station,
were on Thursday 13 January 2022 charged with participating in a
gathering with intention to promote public violence, bigotry and
breaches of peace as defined in Section 37(1)(a) of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act.
The unionists were arrested outside the offices of the National Social
Security Authority, the state-run pension fund, where ZRP officers
claim that they were staging an anti-government protest demanding to
be paid their salaries at the figures, which obtained before October
2018, when they were paid US$540 per month.
The ARTUZ leaders and members, who are represented by Idirashe
Chikomba, Trust Maanda and Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights, are expected to appear in court on Friday 14 January
2022.
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