In this important statement below, WOZA makes several good points including the need for Zimbabwe to have a professional and non-partisan police force. And watch their Valentines Day footage on YouTube (see the link at the end of the statement):

Persecution by prosecution of Human Rights Defenders continues: Court appearances; Williams and Mahlangu avoid persecution; Release our comrades

SEVEN members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) appeared in Tredgold Magistrates Court today 16 March, they will reappear again on 23rd of March 2011. The 3 women and 4 men arrested on 28 February in two separate incidents in Entumbane and Mabutweni. Although reporting conditions were relaxed and they now only report once a week, charges were not dropped as there is resistance from the police officers.

Before they appeared in Court, the Defence lawyer Matshobana Ncube met with the provincial area prosecutor and the Attorney general’s office Mrs Cheda who indicated that they have formally requested a meeting with the District Commanding Police Officer Inspector R. Masina to obtain understanding as to the significance of the Supreme Court ruling to prevent the continued arrest of WOZA members by the police officers in defiance of the ruling. The Supreme Court ruling was obtained by WOZA leaders Jennifer Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu from a 16 October 2008 arrest and 3 week detention at Mlondolozi prison.

An update on the three women, Eneles Dube, Janet Dube and Selina Dube arrested during the 7th March protest were followed home and brought  to court to be formally charged.

On the 10th of March 2011 Lizwe Jamela of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights was advised by Bulawayo Central Police Station from Constable Runesu that District Commanding Police Officer (DISPOL)  Inspector R Masina had demanded that the three Eneles Dube and others  be formally charged. They appeared in court on 11th of March 2011 with Defence lawyer Kossam Ncube. They were charged with criminal nuisance as defined in paragraph 2[v] of the Third schedule to the Criminal Law [ Codification and Reform] Act, Chapter 9:23 as with section 46 of the said Act which basically means ‘blocking the pavement’.

They appeared before Magistrate Gideon Ruvetsa and Public Prosecutor Jeremiah Mutsindikwa, where they were remanded on free bail out of custody to the 21st of March 2011. Lawyer Kossam Ncube indicated to the court than on the 21st he will note an application of refusal of further remand.

WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu are currently on a speaking tour of the United Kingdom and United States of America. In the last month after the Valentines Day protests, Police officers launched regular visits to their homes and sent messages through members that they tortured to reveal the whereabouts of the leaders. Police officers also contacted a Human Rights lawyer, demanding he bring the leaders to Bulawayo Central Police station indicating that they ‘must prepare themselves for a long detention’. As a result of the supreme Court ruling which police are obviously ignoring, it was determined that they  of this heightened harassment and obvious ignoring of the Supreme Court ruling, Williams and Mahlangu have not voluntarily presented themselves to this persecution.

WOZA call on the all officers Zimbabwe Republic Police to professionalise and shake themselves from the choke of their political masters.  The days of reckoning will come soon and they will be faced with the guilt of their torture alone. They must not blindly follow the dictates of politicians to arrest and detain human rights defenders but should interrogate as decent human beings the letter of the law and the principle of investigate to arrest not arrest to investigate. We call on them to free all human rights defenders in custody including our Comrades Gwisai, Gumbo, Tafadzwa and others.

Please watch this rough footage of the Valentines’ Day protest that has got the state shivering http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2-PrFvmwQs

The police raided the office of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition on Tuesday 15 March.

“The police, who were armed with a search warrant signed by Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi said they were looking for anything subversive such as T-shirts, documents and fliers or anything incriminating.” (ZLHR press release)

You really have to laugh at them – there’s nothing else left to do. This incident reminded me of something I read recently. Some food for thought for civic organisations in Zimbabwe . . .

Faking it

Slobodan Miloševic, Serbia’s warmongering leader during the 1990s, was a master of manipulation in the former Yugoslavia. But, as the endgame approached, even Miloševic lost his touch.

He and his henchmen had little idea how to cope with the mischievous Otpor (“Resistance”), the student movement that proved more effective in energizing opposition to Miloševic than his political foes had ever been. Even as Otpor’s members were arrested and beaten, they mocked the authorities. As one of Otpor’s leaders pointed out later, the regime found itself in a bind. “I’m full of humour and irony and you are beating me, arresting me,” Srdja Popovic said in an interview for Steve York’s and Peter Ackerman’s documentary Bringing Down a Dictator. “That’s a game you always lose.”

In advance of elections in September 2000, the authorities became increasingly enraged at Otpor’s success. Police raided the group’s offices in the Serb capital, Belgrade, confiscating computers and campaign materials.

Otpor exacted sweet revenge. On phone lines which they knew would be tapped, they discussed how they would receive a large quantity of additional supplies of election stickers and other materials at a certain time and day. They invited news photographers to witness the delivery. Then, at the appointed hour, volunteers began unloading boxes from a truck, staggering toward the Otpor office, apparently weighed down by the weight of all the pamphlets and posters.

The waiting police triumphantly moved in to seize the boxes. As they did so, they realised that the cartons were not heavy at all, but strangely light. They were empty – as empty as the police action itself.

Orders were orders, however. The police could not stop confiscating what they had been ordered to confiscate. Under the mocking eyes of reporters and other onlookers, the police impounded a large quantity of empty cardboard boxes.

Source: Small Acts of Resistance – how courage, tenacity, and ingenuity can change the world
Authors, Steve Crawshaw and John Jackon

According to an article in The Zimbabwean “Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is to embark on a diplomatic offensive to seek greater support from the SADC regional bloc, following an intense blitz on his party officials and activists by ZANU PF.”

He’d better include a national offensive as well. Many Zimbabweans are questioning the MDC’s effectiveness, and they’re losing support hand over fist (so to speak).

ZINASU recently gave Tsvangirai and the MDC this advice:

To the M.D.C we advise you to divorce yourself from this government of many names either in a smart or a dirty way and come back to the people. The people shall not spare you of their wrath as we launch a protracted struggle against tyranny and an anti-people government. The nation demands an immediate dissolution of that government you are part of to pave way for a genuine revolution that shall leave power in the hands of the working people. The roadmap that Zuma is proposing shall see the same fate as Thabo Mbeki’s initiatives that were stalled by the cunning Mugabe regime.

A statement released by the Youth Forum:

The sustained closure of the halls of residence at the University of Zimbabwe has caused untold suffering amongst the student community. The hostels have been unilaterally closed since 2008 and this has left many students stranded, something that can result in poor academic records and institutional output.

An investigation by Youth Forum’s Information Department revealed that students use an average of US$2 a day for transport only. This is because they have to commute into the Central Business District first before they travel to Mount Pleasant, where the university is located, add to this money for food and the daily expenses get out of reach of many poor students. The few students who manage to get accommodation in the surrounding areas are being outrageously overcharged. Many students are missing lectures due to this immoral closure of the halls of residence. Tafadzwa, a Second year Law student said he takes turns to turn up at the campus with his friends and exchange notes and involve in discussions at the weekend to catch up with others.

Female students are the worst hit by this crisis as they are taken advantage of by the affluent of the city. A third year female Accounting student, who requested anonymity for fear of victimization and stigmatization by fellow students, confessed she got involved in two sexual relationships in 2010 to supplement her studies. She was later diagnosed with a Sexually Transmitted Disease she blames on these two relationships. This stark reality flies in the face of this years’ International Women’s Day Commemorations’ whose theme was “Equal Access to Education, Training and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women”.

What compounds the problem is the fact that the closure of the hostels automatically leads to the non-operation of the students’ dining halls. Students currently have to buy food from unscrupulous business people who have no qualifications whatsoever in catering. It is only a matter of time before a cholera outbreak is reported at the country’s oldest university; the food being sold is not only of substandard but also prepared in environments whose hygienic standards only God knows.

It is a prerequisite of any institution of higher learning to provide academic studies as well as an environment that is conducive for learning. The conditions at the UZ cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be considered conducive for serious learning.

The Youth Forum is currently working with progressive students unions to ensure that students of Zimbabwe learn in an environment that allows them to become accomplished future leaders of the nation. The Zimbabwe National Students’ Union Secretary General Vivid Gwede, in consultation with the Youth Forum and other liberal youth organizations, made a presentation to the parliamentary portfolio responsible for higher education on the state of the service and made solid reccommendations and we will keep monitoring progress.

Youth Forum Information and Publicity Department

Here’s a statement from the Harare Residents Trust. This is just one example of the City of Harare’s incompetence:

The City of Harare has let down the residents of Sunningdale and nearby Hatfield by failing to deal decisively with the problem of a seriously damaged water reservoir in the Old Mutual (Truworths) complex, commonly known as the Prospect Industrial Park, located at corner Seke Road and Cranborne West Road.

HRT officials on Monday 14 March 2011 visited the scene of the burst and it was established that the reservoir burst out on Tuesday 8 March 2011 in the morning. A report was made to the City of Harare by the services department at Truworths complex. The City of Harare is said to have visited the spot on Tuesday in the afternoon and failed to stop the water link. The burst worsened to the extent that the residents of Sunningdale and Hatfield started experienced serious water shortages. Water supplies for the residents of Sunningdale were cut on Saturday 12 March 2011 in the afternoon. On Sunday the water cut continued which saw most residents fetching water from strange water sources.

Many residents walked a distance of about a kilometer to fetch water from the damaged reservoir which has developed into a deep pool. Millions of treated water liters have been lost and up to now water is still flowing along Cranborne West Road. Truworths workers claimed they had to divert the water from continuing to flood their premises into the road. This is treated water that is being lost, the same water that the City of Harare is claiming to be costing them millions of dollars to purify and treat for human consumption. The engineers who came to the site of the burst failed to repair the burst and left without indicating when they would return. Officials at the complex stated that the reservoir is losing out so much water and that a three follow-up reports have been made but nothing has been done.

Who pays for all this lost water?

Pride Nleya* is the wife of one of the activists detained with Munyaradzi Gwisai. They are currently awaiting a bail hearing on Wednesday 16 March.

How has his detention affected you?
Since we’ve been married we have never been apart for such a long period of time. Even when he was away for work, we would call each other everyday and communicate on Skype and email. With him being in remand, when I first heard I was shocked. I panicked because I didn’t really know what was going to happen. I took comfort in the number of people who had also been arrested with him, thinking that at least if there are so many, maybe nothing will happen. Initially when they were taken in and the State said it would take seven people to court, I panicked thinking of the Jestina Mukoko case. You know, you feel helpless because you don’t who to approach or where to go for help. All you can do is wait at Central police where no one tells anything. At the end of the day you don’t really feel safe.

If we didn’t have a child I think I would have taken it differently, but with a child, especially them being so close – they are like best friends, they do everything together. And she is used to her father calling even late at night to talk to her when he is away. Now we can’t communicate, and I can’t tell her her father is in prison for something that I’m not even sure of. With such a high charge, she can’t really comprehend what is going on. I know it would knock her hard if she found out. I’ve only just now gotten used to the idea that he’s in prison and it might take a while for him to get out, but looking at our daughter, I wonder if it’s ever going to be alright, and I’m not sure what to do, if I should tell her. This is one of the biggest challenges of our marriage. Not being in control, and not being able to help him the way I would want.  It’s one of those things I can’t get my mind around.

What do you miss most about him?
Now that he’s in there, and I can only see him with a screen between us it’s like there’s a big, big, big wall between us and I can’t say something of the small nothings that we used to say to each other. There is no one to share that with. It’s just his presence, knowing that he’s there at home that I really miss. Just knowing that he’ll be back at home.

Has this situation changed the way you feel about his work?
No, if anything I think it has changed my perceptions as a citizen of Zimbabwe. At one point I thought I would quit my job and find another where I would have a platform to challenge the government. To me I don’t see anything wrong with what they were doing. They were having a meeting. The only charge I expected from the police was maybe public disorder but for them to say it’s treason? For the first four days of his incarceration I wasn’t even allowed to see him.

I used to be so scared because I knew the kind of environment that we live in; things like this were always going to happen. But you get used to this kind of thing and when it’s someone else it’s not the same as when it’s someone close to you. When you feel that there is so much injustice and you feel useless, hopeless and you can’t do anything. That’s what eats me up, that I don’t have a voice, even if I shout scream pull my hair out no one will listen. But one day I will find a way.

What is the first thing that you will say to your husband when he is released?
I’m not too sure. Maybe that I love him, or that I missed him. It’s like you’re in an emotional whirlpool, sometimes you are strong the next moment you realise you are not in control, and then you feel that you are not so strong. It’s really difficult for me to say; maybe I’ll just cry when I look at him, I’m not too sure.

* Not her real name