Police defend WOZA members, after detention by other officers

By Alex Bell
13 April 2010

Police officers in Bulawayo have lashed out at fellow officers, for arresting two members of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), who were taking part in a public meeting on electricity tariffs.

The WOZA members were discussing unrealistic tariffs from Zimbabwe’s Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) on Tuesday, in a public meeting organised by parliament’s Competition and Tariff commission. Two hundred WOZA members attended the public meeting in order to present their views on ZESA. As the commission was getting ready to answer questions two WOZA members, Million and Mavis Sibanda, took the opportunity to go to the toilets. But they were grabbed by two plain clothed police officers who searched their bags, confiscated WOZA posters and then insisted the two accompany them to Central Police Station. They were briefly detained and thoroughly questioned, before finally being released.

But in a move that is completely unlike the police’s usual treatment of WOZA members, the arresting officers were lambasted by their colleagues. It’s understood the officers came under fire for detaining the pair, with their fellow officers saying “we are also suffering from ZESA cuts.” Meanwhile, other WOZA members marched out of the public meeting in anger over the arrests, only returning to the meeting when the two were released.

On Monday, about 1000 WOZA members took to the streets of Bulawayo and marched to ZESA’s offices. Their aim was to deliver football inspired ‘yellow cards’ to the electricity service provider, for poor service and unrealistically high tariffs, and warn them against a possible future boycott. The march was monitored by police officials who, for once, didn’t not arrest any WOZA members or use violence to scatter the protesters. One police officer was heard commending the protesters, clearly showing how angry the country is over ZESA’s appalling service and rolling blackouts.

WOZA has warned ZESA that it has a month to ‘shape up’ or face a nationwide boycott. The electricity supplier has come under fire for months for power cuts, high tariffs and unrealistic metering, that WOZA said is crippling the country’s economy.