Students severely beaten for protesting train delay

By Henry Makiwa
17 December 2007

Three student leaders were assaulted by soldiers in Bulawayo for protesting at the delay of a Harare-bound train on Saturday.

Themba Maphenduka, Sheunesu Nyoni and Brian Mtisi of the National University of Science & Technology were on their way to a Zimbabwe National Students Union meeting in the capital, when they were told that their train had been delayed. According to witnesses the three protested fiercely when it was learnt that the train was delayed because Zanu PF delegates meeting in Harare were using it.

Soldiers manning Bulawayo railway station then rounded them up, accusing them of inciting travellers into acts of public disorder and started assaulting them. Maphenduka told Newsreel that they were continuously assaulted for two hours before police arrived to arrest them.

He said: “We thought the police would end our misery, instead they locked us up for six more hours. It is obvious that there is no freedom of expression in this country and that it can be a fatal mistake to criticise Zanu PF and Mugabe. We were severely beaten for merely registering our justified complaint that the train had been delayed. We suffered very bad injuries from the beatings and the unlawful arrest that followed and we are just thankful that we have had the support of fellow students in getting treatment.”