MDC youth secretary arrested for taking photos of voter registration
By Violet Gonda
26 July 2007

Elections are due next year and reports of arrests and victimisation of opponents have started to emerge. The Mutambara MDC reports that their Secretary for Information and Publicity for the Youth Assembly, Brighton Chiwola was arrested on Thursday for taking pictures at a voter registration center in Hatcliffe.
Chiwola is also the personal assistant to the MP for Harare North, Hon Trudy Stevenson and a resident of Hatcliffe.
The opposition party also echoed complaints from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) over the way the whole voter registration exercise has been handled. Commenting on the Hatcliffe incident, the Mutambara MDC said: “Chaos reigned supreme as hundreds of potential voters who had spent days in the voter registration queues were jostling to register on the last day of registration today (Thursday).”
The opposition party said frustrated crowds started pushing and shoving to try and beat the queue, resulting in riot police being called in. “Elderly people and young women with children strapped at their backs were thoroughly beaten up and many suffered bruises as they scurried for safety,” the MDC said in a statement.
It’s reported the youth secretary was taking pictures when a member of the CIO arrested him. His exact whereabouts are unknown.
Gabriel Chaibva, Secretary for Information and Publicity said: “Such action by the state’s security agency, of arbitrary arrests and detention are reminiscent of apartheid era security operations, where black people were arrested and detained without trial on mere suspicion of harboring subversive thoughts.”
Meanwhile ZESN issued a statement recently expressing concern over the slow pace of the voter registration exercise in some parts of the country. The group said: “ In spite of the fact that the exercise has been going on for the past four weeks most people were still unaware that they could register as voters.”