Protesters in detention as Mugabe portrays himself as a champion of democracy at UN

By Violet Gonda
21 September 2006

As Mugabe glossed over the crisis in Zimbabwe at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and portrayed himself as a champion of democracy, more than 180 people in Mutare were being forced to pay admission of guilt fines to secure their release from detention. Several others are still languishing in police custody. They were arrested on Wednesday for demonstrating. Others are said to have been kidnapped and assaulted by suspected ruling party militia.

Scores of members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) had taken part in protest marches in several cities calling for a democratic constitution and against last week’s brutalisation of their colleagues in the labour movement.

Ernest Mudzengi the NCA spokesperson in the chairperson’s office said although all the 180 activists in Mutare were released after paying fines, seven people are still in custody in Masvingo and six in Gweru. He said in Harare seven members, kidnapped by suspected ruling party sponsored militia, were attacked and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
“They were taken to the Harare provincial headquarters of the ruling ZANU PF party and there they were severely assaulted and then released.”
Police refused to give us an interview and after being given the run around there was no comment forthcoming from the ZANU PF provincial office in the capital.

The NCA joined several progressive forces that in recent weeks have embarked on various forms of civil disobedience or street protests calling for a better standard of living and restoration of basic freedoms. Some of those groups have been the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), which has been assisting locals in campaigns against poor service delivery, mismanagement and corruption by the Makwavarara commission running Harare. Residents in Budiriro and Dzivarasekwa suburbs of Harare started an operation dumping buckets of raw sewage and refuse inside their local district offices to protest the sewage that flows from broken pipes in their community and the uncollected refuse piled up.
These protests aimed at giving local officials a taste of their own sewage were supported by the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) who took part in solidarity demonstrations at Town House in Harare. But as usual the demos were violently crushed by the authorities and several women - some with their babies - were arrested.

In the background of all this, Robert Mugabe was defending his record and blaming sanctions and drought as the main causes of the problems in the country and not his policies. In an interview Wednesday with Associated Press in New York, Mugabe also absolved the police force that violently suppressed the workers protests recently. Asked about police actions, Mugabe said he did not know the details but blamed "overzealousness of one or two police, exaggerating their role."

Although Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis with inflation reaching a record high of more that 1200% and worsening food shortages, the 82-year-old dictator is reported to have told AP that the country's economy is on the mend. "Our inflation, we are fighting that, and there is no hunger anymore, and we have a bumper harvest, so there is enough maize in the country," he said.

Ernest Mudzengi said while Mugabe is trying to hoodwink the international community at the UN summit by blaming the west on the crisis in the country his human rights record speaks for itself. He said the mere fact that streets are flooded with police shows that the authorities want to tighten grip on power and also “shows that the regime is under pressure.”

Observers also say the full scale of repression in the country was exposed by the way the regime violently blocked protests organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, last Wednesday.

However the manner in which the government is crushing voices of dissent has led others to believe that demonstrations may not be achieving anything if people continue to be brutalised and arrested.

But pressure groups like the NCA, disagree.

Mudzengi said; “Through street protests we actually expose the brutality of this regime. We actually expose the hypocrisy of this regime. That this regime is not democratic as it masquerades to be.”

He added; “Right now Mugabe is in the United Nations where he is portraying himself as a champion of democracy but now people are being brutalised for simply trying to express their need for a new constitution.”