KweKwe MDC leadership tortured in prison cells

By Tichaona Sibanda
14 March 2007

The entire local leadership of the MDC in KweKwe has been tortured in prison cells at a police station after being rounded up just before the start of an anti-government protest on Wednesday.

Alex Senge, an MDC activist and one of the protest organisers in KweKwe, said they strongly suspect someone tipped off the police because by the time they got to venue at the main bus terminus, it was surrounded by heavily armed riot police.

Despite the presence of the police the MDC activists still tried to go ahead with the protest march at which time they were rounded up and thrown onto trucks. They were taken to KweKwe central police station.
There the group was subjected to severe beatings by the police, according to Senge. He said they were taken three at a time into a torture chamber, where they emerged badly bruised.

‘It took the police ten minutes to deal with each group and the torture sessions were so vicious it left most of the activists badly swollen and bruised,’ Senge said.

All of those arrested and tortured hold senior positions in the Midlands constituency. By mid afternoon, police were still making follow-ups and arresting activists from their homes around KweKwe.

On Tuesday Gweru Mayor Fedel Zvidzayi was arrested together with Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya at the start of a protest demonstration in the city. KweKwe MP Blessing Chebundo confirmed that the senior officials of the party were still in cells at the city’s central police station.