MDC activists in Mutare still in police custody

By Tichaona Sibanda
13 March 2007

MDC activists arrested in Mutare on Monday are still languishing in police cells a day after they were picked up just before an anti-government protest in the eastern border town.

Pishai Muchauraya the MDC spokesman for Manicaland said it took the police more than 30 hours to record cautioned statements from the activists who were now waiting to be taken to court. He described conditions in the cells as poor and not fit for a human being. Each cell is holding up to 30 activists instead of the 10 it was built for. Police also made no attempt to provide food for those arrested. An SOS was sent out to town and people started bringing food into the prison.

Muchauraya who was also arrested and spoke to us from the cells said there are over 100 activists who were arrested and the figure includes children and women. He said they have not been able to sleep or get any kind of rest.

Lawyers representing the activists have worked all day to try to get them to court but are facing serious bureaucratic delays, blamed on the police. The officer-in-charge of the station, named as Florence Marume, has been particularly harsh to the activists. She has allegedly been brutal and openly condemning of the MDC.

‘I believe this is a deliberate plot by the police, especially this Marume, to keep us locked in these filthy cells to break our backs—she will not succeed,’ Muchauraya said.

Meanwhile Zimbabwe National Students Union leaders Promise Mkwananzi and Washington Katema were picked up by the police just before a planned march into the city from the University of Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Innocent Kasiyano, co-ordinator of the students Christian movement of Zimbabwe, said police pounced on the student leaders and others as they were marching along second street extension. There were also running battles between the students and the police. Mkwananzi and Katema were initially released but arrested after going to the Magistrates’ court to attend court hearing of those arrested on Sunday. They are now expected to appear in court on Wednesday.