Crackdown on MDC-T youths in Harare

Posted by on Friday, November 23, 2012 in MDC-T, Zimbabwe politics | 7 comments

Nelson Chamisa

Staff Writer
23 November 2012

The MDC-T has said it is alarmed by a new wave of arbitrary arrests and intimidation of its supporters after a number of their youth activists were fined for criminal nuisance, after being caught gathered in a park in Kuwadzana.

Twenty-one party youths in Kuwadzana, a constituency held by Nelson Chamisa the national organizing secretary, were arrested on Wednesday and taken to Kuwadzana 2 Police Station where they were detained before paying $10 each as an admission of guilt fine. The youths were putting up posters for a rally Chamisa will address on Sunday.

The independent Newsday newspaper said provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tadius Chibanda confirmed the arrests and said the youths were in a park and failed to explain what they were doing there.

A senior member of the party at Harvest House said he wondered if gathering in a park in Zimbabwe has now become a crime. He condemned the sharp crackdown on their activists in the run up to the next year’s crucial elections.

‘It’s not a coincidence that there is now a persistent stream of intimidation targeting our supporters who dare to speak out against ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe,’ the official said. Chamisa also castigated the police action, saying it shows why the country needs serious transformation.

‘Why and how do you arrest people for putting up a poster? I am raising the issue with the officer-in-charge Southerton to explain how and what law they are using and what politics they are using,’ he said.

  • Yepec

    Be brave, please, try to stand up to Zanu intimidation – elections are on the way (2013). Despite the laws of the country, Zanu and Mugabe will find as it were “a lawful way” of intimidating, the MDC-T activists through the Police or other security forces.

  • Chimbwido Warvet

    Ah gosh, oh no no Aah, Nelson Chamisa is now opening his mouth during an election year. I last heard about him during his political campaign of the 2008 elections and since then has been very quiet. A once vocal and vibrant politician of the poor MDC has been silenced for good. But his round face and fatty cheeks tells is it all that he has joined the gravy train of Zimbabwe and is eating very well.

    • Yepec

      So you know that the gravy train exists and who is on it? Do not keep your head buried in the sand for it is of critical importance. Look how filthy rich Mugabe, Grace Marufu, Mpofu, Chiwenga, Perence Shiri, Gono and Robert Mhlanga, have become while the generality of Zimbabweans is steeped in artificially created poverty.

      • Chimbwido Warvet

        My understanding of ‘gravy train’ is a job requiring comparatively little work for good pay and benefits which is largely true for most Cabinet ministers all over the world. It does not necessarily mean their pay and benefits are derived through underhand activities as you seem to imply. I therefore have no intention of denigrating anyone here because I do not have any information to pin anyone down. I am not that foolish as you to be quoted as having said anybody is filthy rich when I do not have information to back my assertions. To be honest with you, I do not have that right.

        • Yepec

          As has been pointed out, “you bury your head in the sand” when it comes to issues of importance. After all, you said it yourself that it was an “educated choice”, to live in Britain. Since you do not live in Zimbabwe, a country for which you fought to liberate, nothing that happens to it matters to you. Pay your attention to the country that is important to your life, not Zimbabwe.

          • Chimbwido Warvet

            The above is Irrelevant, incoherent, irrational and foolish. I will not waste my time responding to it. I would rather have a can of beer or a coffee instead as I am yawning after reading the above.

          • Yepec

            People know that it is your habit to go for a beer can in order to soothe your brused nerves and ego. Is it really that hard for you to understand? Also, yawning is symptomatic of not comprehending what you are reading, you might as well ask somebody to provide you the meaning of “Crack down on MDC-T youths in Harare”.