As Bulawayo Agenda stands in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in commemorating September 13 which is a reminder of ‘police Brutality on ZCTU leadership and activists’, the organisation also condemns the continued human rights abuses and police intransigence despite the Reform Oriented transition under the Inclusive Government.
The condemnation is in response to the savage acts by police in Bulawayo, Harare and Lupane. In Bulawayo, the police have been denying human rights lawyers access Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, who were detained at Bulawayo Central Police Station on Wednesday 12 September 2012.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights reported on the 12th of September that ‘Police officers at Bulawayo Central Police Station had refused to let Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights member lawyers Nikiwe Ncube of Webb, Low and Barry Legal Practitioners and Kossam Ncube of Kossam Ncube & Partners Legal Practitioners access to Williams and Mahlangu. The police officers asked the lawyers to move out of the police building, after they attempted to engage one of their client, Mahlangu’.
Williams and Mahlangu on Monday 10 September and 11 September 2012 successfully led WOZA members, who staged protests in Bulawayo and Harare demanding an end to the disruption of peaceful demonstrations by the police and the holding of a Second All Stakeholders Conference on the Draft Constitution.
ZLHR also reported that In Harare, the police have allegedly been acting in cahoots with the notorious group of criminals known as Chipangano to torture political activists. The police are said to have ‘arrested Petros Makaza and Golden Nhika accusing them of stealing a soldier’s beret and mobile phone after a beer hall brawl in Epworth and surrendered them to a ZANU PF office in Harare’s volatile Mbare suburb, where they were assaulted and severely tortured.’
These also come hard on the heels of yet another disappointing hallmark of pathetic policing which saw the National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) being denied clearance for a workshop that was due to take place in Lupane earlier this week. It was reported that’ the organisation had planned to conduct two different training workshops for four days from September 11, 2012, starting with a two day life skills training followed by a Leadership and capacity development training.’
Bulawayo Agenda urges the Inclusive Government to act immediately to stop the reversal of democratic gains and the closing of the democratic space as the nation prepares for a supposedly watershed election. The organisation also calls upon the police to stop forthwith, partisan and unprofessional conduct. We also call upon all democratic forces, Zimbabweans, regional and International stakeholders to maintain their focus on the Zimbabwean government and continue to shepherd the country’s transition into a democratic dispensation.