Posted on 09/04/2002 4:49:55 AM PDT by Clive
The 17 farmworkers detained last week have been charged with "undergoing military training, banditry and sabotage". Yesterday, Bigson Gombers, the deputy director of the Farm Communities Development Trust, was charged with "recruiting militia"
The 17 farmworkers detained last week in the Mazowe area have appeared before a magistrate and have been charged under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) with "undergoing military training, banditry and sabotage". They have been remanded in custody until 17 September.
The workers had been engaged in constructing a new camp for a larger group of displaced farmworkers and their families in the area when they were arrested. Yesterday, Bigson Gombers, the deputy director of the Farm Communities Development Trust (FCDT), was also arrested at his home and has been charged under POSA with "recruiting militia". The FCDT is a Zimbabwean charity which assists internal refugees and farmworkers made destitute in recent months.
The FCDT and Amani trust had been providing material help, including food supplies and the payment of school fees for workers’ children, to the group in a previous camp. The farmworkers and their families were evicted from their homes at gunpoint in March this year.
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