'Sadc must quiz Mugabe over Dzamara'

THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has appealed to the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) leaders meeting in Harare this week to quiz President Robert Mugabe over human rights abuses in the country.

They also want Mugabe to be questioned over the abduction of activist and journalist Itai Dzamara, who has been missing since March 9.

ZCTU secretary-general Japhet Moyo also said the Sadc leaders, meeting in the capital to discuss the region's industrialisation strategy, were wasting taxpayers' money on a conference that was unlikely to produce any meaningful results for the region instead of addressing the issues of xenophobia and human rights abuses in the region.

"The current chairperson of Sadc, President Robert Mugabe, who is well known for silencing dissent, has one of his critics, Itai Dzamara, missing and should be made to account for that. This is in addition to the spate of politically-motivated violence that has erupted in the country," Moyo said.

ZCTU's demands come at a time local civil society organisations have threatened to doorstep Sadc leaders and protest over Dzamara's alleged abduction by suspected State security agents.  

However, the labour body said previous gatherings of this nature had not yielded any positive results for the continent.