The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on Monday slammed bad apples in the security sector who trample on people’s rights when they demonstrate against the government for better living conditions.
In a statement on the commemoration of the Heroes Day and Zimbabwe Defence Forces Day, ZCTU secretary-general Japhet Moyo paid tribute to thousands of gallant men and woman who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country’s political independence from racist settlers.
Moyo, however, castigated the current government, saying people are yearning for the better economic conditions that existed in war-ravaged and sanctions-battered Rhodesia. Said Moyo:
It is a shame and indeed serious indictment on our leadership that people are looking back with nostalgia and fondness of the yesteryear of Ian Smith’s better economic conditions despite Smith’s oppressive and evil regime.
Some of our yesteryear heroes and heroines have turned against the people and have embraced and mastered the vices they fought against during the liberation struggle.
Abductions, arrests, corruption, violence, thuggery, deprivation, segregation, inequalities, and repression are the order of the day. The so-called liberators have become masters and experts of repression.
Moyo asserted that Zimbabweans’ quest for freedom was no longer against colonial rule, but the fight for other liberties such as economic freedom, human rights and the right to demonstrate, assemble and freedom of speech.
He said it was a shame that the security forces were being used in the brutal oppression of the masses that they were supposed to protect.