Mugabe says assaulted unionists deserved the beating

HARARE, Sep 25 (Reuters) Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said trade union leaders, who say they were severely assaulted by police after trying to stage a protest over wages, had defied authority and deserved the beating.

A Harare magistrate has ordered a probe into charges that a dozen leaders of the main Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were tortured and ''excessively and brutally'' assaulted in detention after police stopped their September 13 demonstration.

Mugabe, who is on his way home from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, was quoted by Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper today as saying from Cairo ''the police were right in dealing sternly with the ZCTU leaders''.

''Some people are now crying foul that they were assaulted, yes you get a beating. When the police say move, move,'' he said.

''If you don't move, you invite the police to use force.'' The government's crackdown on the union leaders has been condemned by several international rights groups.

But Mugabe said the ZCTU was organising protests as part of a futile campaign to oust his government.

Mugabe, 82 and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, said the ZCTU's September 13 demonstration was also a public stunt to get the attention of the media and the West, but his government would never be overthrown by such efforts.

''I don't know what they want to achieve. They want to attract attention. Yes, people will read about it but it's nonsensical, it's stupid,'' Mugabe said.

Critics say Mugabe has used tough policing, including strict media and security laws, to keep his opponents in check and to stifle criticism.

The veteran Zimbabwean leader denies his controversial policies have ruined one of Africa's most promising countries and left it struggling with chronic shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency.

Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's economic woes on sabotage and international sanctions imposed by those opposed to his redistribution of white-owned farms to blacks.

In a move likely to spark more controversy over its rule, Mugabe's ZANU-PF said yesterday it was looking at delaying the 2008 presidential poll to 2010, when parliamentary elections are scheduled, in order to consolidate the voting calendar.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has in the past said it would oppose any attempt to change the electoral calendar, has not not publicly reacted to move yet. But an outspoken allied critic has condemned it.

''It's an abuse of power which they are trying to pass off as a logical and reasonable idea to cut costs and to consolidate the voting calendar,'' said John Makumbe, a political science lecturer and fierce Mugabe critic.

''But the whole programme is meant to benefit ZANU-PF, to prolong its stay in power,'' he said.

Political analysts say Mugabe and ZANU-PF fear an electoral challenge in the face of a deepening economic crisis many blame on his government.

They say ZANU-PF might be looking for a delay hoping for a turnaround of an economy struggling with the world's highest inflation rate of over 1,200 percent.

Mugabe has previously suggested he will retire at the end of his current six-year term in 2008, and it is not clear whether he would remain in office to 2010 or hand over to someone under the new proposals.

Reuters MQA GC1625