Another court victory for Women of Zimbabwe Arise

By Violet Gonda
29 August 2006

A Harare Magistrate on Monday threw out charges against 63 members of the group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) saying giving roses and singing on Valentine’s Day is not a nuisance. More than 200 WOZA members had intended to march to the parliament building in Harare on the 14th February, giving out roses and cards for Valentines Day, but riot police descended on them before they had spread much of their message of “Bread and Roses”, a protest call for affordable food and a dignified life.

Babies strapped on their mother’s backs were also detained.

In giving his ruling the Magistrate said: “Police are supposed to maintain law and order but they failed to do so and went on a ‘fishing expedition’ to arrest any women in the vicinity of the protest. They did not use reasonable doubt in the manner of arrest and provided no evidence to incriminate the accused. It is better to set free a guilty person than to convict an innocent one.”

The women were detained for more than four days in filthy and overcrowded cells - even beyond the time allowed under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). By this time the activists were supposed to have been charged under this draconian legislation as, in theory, the police cannot hold them for more than 48 hours without being charged.

In the end they were facing charges under the Miscellaneous Offences Act on allegations of “acting in a manner which is likely to lead to a breach of the peace or to create a nuisance or obstruction.”

The WOZA women have consistently and persistently taken to the streets to press for a socially just Zimbabwe. The demonstrations are usually violently broken up by the police.

This is the fourth court case won by WOZA members.

One of the victims Ellah Tawengwa who attended the trial on Monday said the Magistrate noted that none of the police officers were able to identify any of the 63 as being at the demonstration or link them to any evidence of banners, placards, fliers or roses. The magistrate also said no member of the public had testified as to a breach of their peace or that giving roses and singing was a nuisance.

He went on further to say the police ill-treated women and their babies and exposed them to poor and inhuman conditions and “incarcerated them before trial and convicted the accused before trial.”

Responding to the decision in a statement the group said; “After several months of remand hearings, the 63 brave women that refused to pay fines were finally vindicated. WOZA salutes their continued commitment to freedoms of assembly and expression and full enjoyment of these and other rights. We hope that others will follow their example and join us in demanding bread and roses for all Zimbabweans.”