AMALGAMATED Rural Teachers Association of Zimbabwe (Artuz) president Obert Masaraure and 15 other teachers were yesterday released on $5 000 bail each after they spent the whole weekend in custody.
The 16 were arrested last week for demanding to be paid in hard currency a monthly salary of US$540 as they marched and sang while holding placards in Harare central business district (CBD).
Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda released them on condition that they reside at their given address, report twice to their nearest police station and surrender their passports to the police.
They were remanded to February 17.
The suspects represented by one of their lawyers, Tinashe Chinopfukutwa, told the court that they were assaulted by the police and arrested in a manner which violated their human rights as they were allegedly made to sleep in overflowing sewage with no blankets.
“My clients were arrested in a movie style with gun-toting police officers who cocked their guns and forced them to lie down on the ground before assaulting them all over the body with button sticks and whips,’’ Chinopfukutwa complained, adding that “the accused persons were subject to vicious attack by the members of the riot police who formed part of their arrest”.
The State, represented by Lynette Gwarisa, alleges that on January 12, the Police Reaction Group (PRG), who were patrolling in the CBD, were informed that there was a group of people who were unlawfully gathered at National Social Security Authority (Nssa), which houses offices of the Public Service Commission.
Gwarisa claimed that when the riot police arrived where the teachers were gathered, they discovered that they were armed with stones and weapons. The court heard that upon arrival of the police, the accused persons ran in different directions before they were apprehended.
by Shamaine Chirimujiri