‘NCA will not be cowed into submission by police threats’

By Tichaona Sibanda
29 May 2007

National Constitutional Assembly chairperson Lovemore Madhuku and the organisation’s national director Ernest Mudzengi were arrested and later released without charge by police in Chitungwiza on Monday.

The pair spent four hours in police custody. Initially they were held for two hours at Makoni police station. Police had duped them into visiting the station to discuss an NCA meeting set for Wednesday. The NCA views the arrests as yet another incident of intimidation on its leaders by the police.

Information officer Patience Nyangara said Madhuku and Mudzengi were then taken into custody and driven to Harare central police station. Both men have vowed the NCA will not succumb to such baseless threats.

‘At the station they were moved from one office to another without being made to know the reason why they were being held. It was after two hours that they were taken to the office of an Assistant Commissioner for Operations who told Madhuku and Mudzengi that the NCA had become a thorn in the flesh of the police,’ Nyangara said.

Nyangara added that it was pointed out to the two leaders that the NCA would not be treated kindly if it continues with its activities in the country, especially in the capital.

‘This (intimidation) is an everyday thing for Dr Madhuku and as a lawyer he knows his rights and will not be intimidated easily. And as an organisation we will fight until we win our war over a new constitution. There have been many such incidents in the past and the people of Zimbabwe will continue fighting for a democratic constitution that will set them free from the current political, social problems that are emanating from bad governance,’ Nyangara said.