GPA monitors witness brutal police assault on WOZA members

Posted by on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 in WOZA, Zimbabwe politics | 0 comments

Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)

By Tererai Karimakwenda
08 February 2012

Riot police in Bulawayo assaulted members of the Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) pressure group on Tuesday, and arrested coordinator Jenni Williams as she emerged from a meeting with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC).

The brutal assaults of WOZA members and bystanders took place in full view of the JOMIC team, who had just held a meeting with WOZA coordinators Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu.

According to Mahlangu, seven other WOZA women and six bystanders were also arrested while behaving peacefully outside the JOMIC offices, where the group had gathered to commemorate their 10th anniversary. A pregnant woman and a minor were among the arrested group.

In the meeting, WOZA had appealed to JOMIC to forward their complaints about police abuse to the principal leaders in the coalition government. The JOMIC team said they needed concrete proof and moments later, police used baton sticks to bash WOZA members just outside.

“I can’t believe that JOMIC would want us to go through brutal beatings so they can have evidence. We hope they can now take some action to stop the police from abusing us,” Mahlangu told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday.

She added: “I spoke to Jenni early this morning and they spent the night sitting on a wet floor in a cage. They are being bitten by mosquitoes.”

The arrested women are reportedly being moved from one office to another as each division fails to press charges.

Mahlangu said a lawyer was allowed to visit the WOZA members, who are currently detained at Bulawayo Central Police Station. A Chief Inspector Mandere told the lawyer no specific charges had been determined and police were meeting to decide how to proceed.

“It’s unfortunate that Jenni is in custody just because she is a WOZA leader. It’s very sad the others were arrested as well since they were not part of the demonstration yesterday,” Magodonga explained.

A statement from WOZA said: “We believe that JOMIC now has their evidence and expect them to take urgent action to correct the situation.”