MDC youths in court over stay-away

By Lance Guma
21 September 2005

Twelve MDC youths were dragged to the courts Wednesday on allegations of breaching the public order and security act after allegedly barricading a major road in Harare during the March 2003 mass stay away. The first hearing in the case was on Tuesday. Defence lawyers have told the trial magistrate the youths were nowhere near the scene of the alleged crime and that police in the company of Zanu PF supporters moved around picking up known MDC activists on the night in question.

The state alleges that the youths heeded a call by the MDC to stage a mass stay-away. They are said to have blocked Lytton road in Kambuzuma armed with stones and used vehicle tyres as barricades. Police say officers patrolling the area arrested them but the defence who say the youths were arrested in different parts of the city is also disputing this.

Observers have accused the ruling Zanu PF party of trying to weaken the opposition by forcing them to defend numerous charges in the courts and thereby diverting scarce financial resources. Convictions in most of the cases are rare but all the same lawyers have to be hired to defend party activists.