40 members released on Friday into the custody of their lawyer for the weekend have reported back to Bulawayo Central this morning. It is still not clear at this stage when police will take them to court, if at all.

The two members rushed to hospital on Friday afternoon finally received treatment late on Friday evening once they had been transferred from the government facility to which they had been taken to a private clinic.
Magodonga Mahlangu was referred to a specialist on Saturday due to the fact that she had fallen to the ground and blacked out after being beaten with a baton stick. She was further kicked whilst lying passed out on the ground. Both are feeling considerably better having received medical treatment and neither’s condition is serious.

The woman with the broken ankle continues to receive specialist treatment and her condition remains serious. The specialist admitted that, given the severity of the break and her age, many other doctors would have simply amputated. He is continuing to attempt to save her leg but the next two weeks remain critical. The woman, in her sixties, admitted that she was beaten by police whilst lying on the ground.
They were telling her to get up and run. When she tried to do so, “she could not find her foot to stand up”.

Further stories of horror have emerged over the weekend. The woman who was kicked in the breast and collapsed outside the police station was actually going to the rescue of her sister who was being beaten on the back of the neck by a baton stick and kicked in the stomach. When her sister begged them to stop, the same officer kicked her in the breast. This attack later caused her to collapse. Both sisters received medical treatment and are recovering from their brutal attack.

One of the young girls taken to the start of the demonstration and assaulted whilst being made to pick up flyers testified: “We were ordered to pick up all the flyers that we had strewn on the roads for passers-by. We were also ordered to pick up litter besides the flyers and this included picking up dirty material, even from stagnant water. They also forced us to pick up litter from beneath parked cars, which required us to lie prostrate on the ground, at which time they would beat us with baton sticks and kick us.

We were most pained when workers at Express Mart (the shop outside where we had kicked off our demonstration), joined hands with the police in insulting and even cheering on the police, who they ordered to force us to sing in the same way we had had been singing as we were distributing the flyers.”

You can contact Express Mart on +263 9 889997 to ask them why they find such delight and pleasure at the sight of policemen assaulting young girls with impunity in broad daylight.

More details will be given when they become available.

Breaking News
WOZA/ MOZA Members Released

The 40 WOZA/ MOZA arrested on Wednesday have been released into the custody of their lawyer, Advocate Perpetua Dube for the weekend.

They will appear in court on Monday. Meanwhile two members, Magodonga Mahlangu and Sylvia, who were also in police custody, were rushed to hospital this afternoon.

More details will be released when they become available.

For more information, please call Annie Sibanda on +
263 91 898 112 or email wozazimbabwe@yahoo.com

WOZA Update
WOZA/ MOZA Likely to Spend 3rd Night in Custody

4: 20 pm Friday

The 40 WOZA/ MOZA members are still in custody as officers from Law and Order continue to refuse to take them to court and are most likely to spend the third night in the cells.

Please call the Bulawayo Central Police Station on
+263 9 72515, 61706, 63061, 69860 and demand to know
why officers from law and Order are refusing to the WOZA/ MOZA docket to court.

WOZA Update

48+ Hours Later -WOZA /MOZA Members still in Custody

Thirty-four of the WOZA/ MOZA members arrested and detained on Wednesday have been in custody for more than 48 hours now, it remains unclear whether they will be taken to court today as the arresting officers have not yet given their statements for fear of being sued for assault.

Advocate Perpetua Dube is preparing an urgent high court application for their release.

Fourty members have been charged, including the six mothers who reported back to the Bulawayo Central Police Station this morning, under two separate sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

The group is facing charges under Chapter 46 section 2
(v) - ‘employing any means whatsoever which are likely materially to intefere with the ordinary comfort, convinience, peace or quiet of the public, or does any act which is likely create a nuisance or obstruction’
and Chapter 37 – ‘participating in a public gathering with the intent to cause public disorder, breach of peace or bigotry’. If found guilty, the members could be fined or imprisoned for a period not exceeding six months or both.

The 34 have spent two nights in the cells to date and are now being illegally detained as it is past 48 hours since their arrest.

More details will be released when they become available.

For more information, please call Annie Sibanda on +
263 91 898 112 or email wozazimbabwe@yahoo.com

WOZA Update
4.30pm Thursday

Mothers and babies released

Six mothers and babies have been released from Bulawayo Central Police Station whilst the other 30 members remain in custody. The group has been charged under two separate sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act: Chapter 46 section 2
(v) - ‘employing any means whatsoever which are likely materially to intefere with the ordinary comfort, convinience, peace or quiet of the public, or does any act which is likely create a nuisance or obstruction’
and Chapter 37 – ‘participating in a public gathering with the intent to cause public disorder, breach of peace or bigotry’. If found guilty, the members could be fined or imprisoned for a period not exceeding six months or both. It is hoped that they will appear in court tomorrow but it is unclear at this stage when that will take place.

It has also emerged that another group of 10 young female members were taken to the starting point of the demonstration yesterday after being arrested and were assaulted whilst being made to pick up flyers. There were then released. This brings the number to 51 of members that were arrested, assaulted and then released.

Those that were beaten yesterday continued to receive medical treatment, mostly for injuries caused by beating. The woman whose leg was broken was treated by an orthopaedic surgeon and it is likely that her ankle is permanently damaged. It also appears that the baby injured yesterday has broken her leg. Another woman needed urgent treatment after collapsing outside the police station yesterday – she had been kicked in the chest by a booted police officer whilst lying on the ground.

Advocate Dube, who had been threatened with arrest earlier today, managed to see the group this afternoon and reports that morale remains high despite the grave situation that they are in. Jenni Williams remains with the rest of the group and it does not appear that the threats against her have been carried out.

More details will be given when they emerge.

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Woza Update
2pm Thursday 30th

URGENT APPEAL – THREAT TO JENNI WILLIAMS

The 36 WOZA/ MOZA members arrested yesterday remain in police custody. It has emerged that there have been threats to separate Jenni Williams from the rest of the group in order to severely beat her or worse.
WOZA’s lawyer has also been threatened with arrest, for “interfering with the course of justice” whilst trying to attend to her clients.

You are requested to call Bulawayo Central Police Station and let them know that the world is watching and will not tolerate further assaults on WOZA members. Their numbers are +263 9 72515, 61706, 63061, 69860.