ZCTU boss boasts of being arrested 79 times

ZIMBABWE Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) western region chairman Reason Ngwenya has bragged that he  has been arrested 79 times fighting for workers' rights since independence in 1980, saying his feat far outweighs some liberation war fighters detained by the colonial regime.

Ngwenya made the sensational claims in Bulawayo during commemorations to mark 10 years since the brutal torture of top ZCTU leaders during a workers' rights demonstration of 2006.

"I have been recounting the times I have been arrested since 1980 in this country and it amounts to 79 times to date, but I am alive and the cowards would not stand such experience," Ngwenya said.

"There are some who think they are the only ones who can spend 10 years in jail for the country, I want to remind them that they are not the only ones. There are many people now who can do even more than that," he said.

Ngwenya's remarks seemed to be directed at some top Zanu-PF officials, who occasionally brag about their lengthy incarcerations during the liberation struggle.

"There are some who think they are the only ones who can fight a bitter war for this country. But there are some people who can fight more than that for the same country. I want to tell you that if things are unreasonable for us as workers, we must also be more unreasonable to them."