ZCTU dismisses Mathema warning

Zimbabwe's largest trade union federation has dismissed a warning from Home Affairs minister Cain Mathema that those planning anti-government demonstrations risked dire consequences.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), an ally of Nelson Chamisa's MDC, said it was disturbed by comments attributed to Mathema that any future anti-government demonstrations would be crushed.

Mathema has said government has put in place security measures to deal with malcontents planning to disturb the peace prevailing in the country through illegal demonstrations.

"The ZCTU would like to remind the minister that Zimbabweans have an inalienable right to demonstrate as enshrined in the Zimbabwe Constitution. In essence what the minister did was to throw the Constitution out of the window," Japhet Moyo, the ZCTU secretary-general said in a statement.

"The threat to unleash the security forces on demonstrating citizens is barbaric and has no place in modern Zimbabwe."

The ZCTU has in the past staged nationwide strikes and job walkouts to protest the government's policies.