HARARE – Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) secretary general Robson Chere was on Tuesday arrested and charged for allegedly murdering a colleague, Roy Issa back in 2016.
He is being held at Harare Central Police Station.
Chere is the second member of the firebrand teachers group to be charged over what activists feel is brazen abuse of the law by the Zanu PF led administration to persecute its known critics.
In a statement Tuesday, ARTUZ said, “Our SG Chere has been illegally detained by the police for a crime he clearly did not commit. He becomes the second leader from our union to be arbitrarily incarcerated by the Harare regime!”
Until the State’s move to revisit the matter, the late Issa has widely been believed to have committed suicide by plunging from the seventh floor of a Harare hotel back then.
ARTUZ president Obert Masaraure was arrested last month and spent over two weeks in remand prison over charges of murdering his colleague.
He was last Wednesday granted a $60,000 bail by the High Court after a spirited attempt by his lawyers to secure his freedom.
Added ARTUZ, “The Union is under attack and we call upon the Citizens of the world to stand with us as we try to weather the storm. The State seeks to destabilise us and make it impossible for us to represent our underpaid members.”
Amnesty International last month said Masaraure, who has led a relentless push for improved wages and working conditions for teachers, was being persecuted for his resolve.
The global rights defender said it “condemns the use of the law by authorities to silence critics and human rights defenders. He (Masaraure) is being punished for defending teachers’ rights.”
