Robson Chere arrested

On 27th April 2022, Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) Secretary General, Comrade Robson Chere, a member of the Zimbabwe Communist Party was arbitrarily detained by members of the Central Intelligence Organisation. Comrade Robson was conducting a planning workshop at Guruve Growth Point when the officers interrupted the meeting, and arrested the human rights defender without a warrant. Chere was released later the same day after he was dropped off at the Guruve Police Station. ARTUZ was founded in 2009 in response to extremely poor wages and working conditions of rural teachers; the union now has about 35,000 members and operates in all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe, widening its reach to include non-rural teachers. The union also fights for the right to education of rural children.

On 27th April 2022, Comrade Robson was conducting a planning workshop for ARTUZ’s ‘Save Our Education’ campaign when two plain clothes individuals, later identified as members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), interrupted the meeting. He was arbitrarily detained for about an hour on the roadside by the two men. After his detention was made public online, with ARTUZ reporting the make and the number plate of the vehicle in which Robson Chere was taken, he was dropped off at Guruve Police Station. Comrade Robson Chere was then handed over to the CID Law and Order Department and detained for an additional 3 hours. During his detention, he was interrogated about the workshop meeting. The officers demanded to know “who is funding [the ARTUZ campaign]” and “what the big goal” is. The police released him without charges after the interrogation.

This is not the first time that ARTUZ and its members have been targeted. On 27th April 2019, Robson Chere and fellow ARTUZ members Jess Drury, Precious Ndlovu and Munyaradzi Ndawana were arbitrarily detained by the CIO section of Harare Central Police Station. The four defenders were released later the same day, but continued to face judicial harassment into 2020. On 12th January 2021, sixteen human rights defenders and members of ARTUZ were arrested during a peaceful protest; they were charged with participating in a gathering with the 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. They are still experiencing continued judicial harassment. Meanwhile, a number of organisations including ARTUZ, the Zimbabwe Communist Party and the human rights organisation Front Line Defenders, have condemned the act and called for solidarity.