*Masimba Gorejena is one of the recently released detainees arrested for attending a meeting organised by the International Socialist Organisation.

What were you thinking when you were arrested?
I came to the conclusion that the government is in a state of panic. [With] the events that are taking place in North Africa, they wouldn’t want such a situation here in Zimbabwe.

Were you prepared to be arrested?
It’s not the first time I’ve been arrested, but honestly speaking I was not prepared to be detained at this particular juncture. I knew the implications of such activities here in Zimbabwe. I knew that ZANU PF is in a state of panic, recollecting previous activities, the demonstrations in February which were stage managed just to send a message that ‘if you dare try to do this, the state will deal with your decisively’. I knew where such activities would take me. But I was not ready. I was not prepared for now. But we had to face reality because we needed to discuss such issues from an intellectual point of view and then map a way forward.

What were the conditions like in remand?
They were quite bad. Imagine a situation where about 400 inmates are forced to stay together in a closed space, there is a higher probability of diseases spreading from one person to another and also the place is infested with lice.  The one thing I liked was that some of the treatment we got from the security people was sympathetic.

Earlier you mentioned that among those of you who were arrested you formed a bond. Can you tell me more about and how that helped you through you detention?
I met some of the detainees for the first time at the meeting, and then going through such a situation together, naturally a bond is formed, a bond of solidarity. Let’s say one is badly affected by the situation, and someone else is not so badly affected, they will help and encourage each other. By the second week we were much more united, we could now discuss our social lives, our families and so forth. We spent a lot of time together getting to know one another.

What was your reaction to the surprise charge of treason?
I was very surprised to hear the prosecutor announcing that we were facing treason charges. At the police station (when we were arrested), we were made to understand that we were facing a charge of subverting a constitutional government and the state was struggling, through the police, to justify that charge on us. We had thought they would drop that charge and probably use POSA: unlawful gathering because there was no substantial evidence. On the first day when we going to court we first had to go to the Attorney General, who told the police that they lacked evidence to support the charge of subversion. We were convinced that they would drop that charge and use a lesser one. In court when we heard the prosecutor give the charge of treason we were shocked. Some of the detainees actually [lost control of themselves] on our way back to remand. The sentence associated with treason, a whole life in prison or death, it broke a lot of peoples’ spirits, to think that they could no longer envision a future for themselves.

How did you feel when the judge dismissed the charges against you?
I was happy I was being released. But as a comrade who had fought for many years with some people who are still in custody I had some solidarity with them. I had thought that we would be together until the end of this thing. Politically, my conscience tells me that I need to be with them.

What was the effect of your detention on your family?
I am not formally married, but I have a young daughter. I want to thank those who donated things that went to them. The issue is more psychological than economic; they were being given some money to sustain them while I was detained. That psychological trauma of missing a person in your family, I think that played a critical role, they were affected by my absence. My daughter didn’t know I was detained. The day I left we told her I was going to Mutare, so up until Monday, she thought I was still in Mutare.

In the long term has this detention strengthened your resolve?
This does not change anything in terms of my determination for the struggle. Rather I consider it a college. This is the first time I’ve been detained for such a long period of time, I consider it a lesson, that sometimes the state can be very brutal to you if you are a threat to them. Next time we need to change tactics. We don’t need to always be in jail, there are good and bad tactics with repercussions. But we can’t just leave it like it is now.

*not his real name

According to this update from the International Socialist Organisation (Zimbabwe), the bail hearing for Munyaradzi Gwisai and the six remaining detainees who have been charged with treason will be tomorrow at 9am:

With most of the arrested comrades having been released after the state failed to prove a prima facie (clear) case against them, the battle is still on to secure the release of the six comrades who are still in detention. We are still visiting them at the prisons. Welcome Zimuto is at Harare Remand Prison, Munyaradzi Gwisai, Hopewell Gumbo, Tatenda Mombeyarara and Eddison Chakuma are at Harare Central Prison whereas Antonater Choto is at Chikurubi Female Remand Prison. Those four at Central Prison are still in solitary confinement whereas Antonater Choto is not feeling well at Chikurubi. The officers advised that it is not possible for her to see a doctor out of the prison but that the doctor should visit the prison and examine her from there. The lawyers however have filed a bail application today at the High Court and we have been reliably informed that the hearing is set for Friday 11/03/11 at 09:00hrs.

Given a cursory glance, The Zimbabwean‘s Voice of the Voiceless campaign appears to be a noble idea and indeed a small poll of friends confirmed it. The suffering of Zimbabweans is indisputable, poverty unemployment and an estimated 2 million people who will go hungry this year point to a failed economy and bad governance, issues that must be become part of a greater public debate.

I recall reading a study that said people have a 15 second attention span when surfing a website. It’s not surprising then that the exploitative subtext of this campaign is not easy to see:

Should the Voiceless Campaign inspire you to continue to remain informed, you can consider purchasing a subscription through this website. Alternatively, there are many organisations within Zimbabwe that are unable to access the news. Please consider the purchase of a subscription on their behalf, by using the ‘Give a Voice to the Voiceless’ tab on this page.

The Zimbabwean is seeking to increase it market share and thus it’s revenues. There is nothing wrong with this, except that Mr Mbanga seeks to turn the suffering of Zimbabweans into profit. His model is hardly new; it uses the same morally corrupt rationale as the aid industry’s illustration of Africa as pot-bellied children covered in flies, and helpless women who have been raped and battered by illiterate AK-47 wielding primates.

On a list of credible news sources, the Zimbabwean ranks lower even than the Herald. There have been countless times when I have read a story, and have been shocked and alarmed, only to remember that I live in Zimbabwe, I was there when it happened and it was nowhere near the chaotic carnage that the Zimbabwean seems to take pleasure in describing in lurid detail. That is not to say that there is no suffering in Zimbabwe, the pictures on the website are of real people. But it is a shame that they and the photographers who took them would allow their images to be manipulated for the profit of the individual who publishes and edits the paper.

In choosing to publish a newspaper Mr. Mbanga should adhere to industry standards in terms of ethics and principles, none of which he as editor and publisher of the Zimbabwean seems to be familiar with. If he wanted to do something about the situation in Zimbabwe, then he would be a man and employ journalists who are actually in Zimbabwe, he would navigate the legal quagmire and publish here. It may be difficult but it is not impossible. There is no honour in exploitation. All the Zimbabwean really does is add to the misinformation that make people believe Africa is dark continent peopled by even darker savages and that the sum of Zimbabwe, with its different peoples, languages, cultures and experiences of politics is Robert Mugabe. It is not. Like many other alleged Zimbabweans, he has chosen to abandon the struggle and throw stones from a safe distance.

True Zimbabweans who work for progress in this country fight from where they stand. The real fight is on the ground, it is in the rural areas, it is in Chiadzwa, it is in Mbare, it is in a magistrate’s court, it will never be in the safe confines of a flat or hotel in London or Johannesburg.

Yesterday was the 100th commemoration of International Women’s Day.

But after 100 years recognising the need for women’s rights and gender equality, what do women have to show for it?

In Zimbabwe, not much.

Female participants in a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) march in honour of the day were forced to strip by male police officers.

According to SW Radio Africa:

Three women who participated in a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) protest march were forced to strip off their clothes in the city centre of Bulawayo by the police, their regional leader has said. One of the three is heavily pregnant. The women were part of a march to commemorate International Women’s Day, which saw a total of 34 members of the group arrested, despite a High Court order saying the march could go-ahead. Barbara Tanyanyiwa of the ZCTU’s Regional Women’s Advisory Council, said trouble began when the police appeared and began dispersing them, and then three of their members were apprehended. “When they were going to the gathering point, that is Jason Moyo and Third Avenue, they were confronted by plain clothes policemen who said they should remove their ZCTU t-shirts.

Read more from SW Radio Africa

Also in Bulawayo, three members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise who were arrested at a 7 March Women’s Day protest were held in custody for the second night in a row – even though the police had refused to prosecute the case. The three were held in Bulawayo central police station. According to WOZA, “There is no flushing toilets; no food and we have to bring food in to every meal and risk theft of this food by officers; no blankets; no access to medication by those on anti retrovirals; no access to water; filthy cells and harassment by police officers.  They have not had the right to see a lawyer.” Read more from WOZA

What difference has 100 years of women’s days made if even on this one day of the year women continued to be harassed, victimised and mistreated?

Yesterday we shared with our subscribers the news about 39 of the 45 treason charge detainees being released. However, as we noted, Munyaradzi Gwisai of the International Socialist Organisation (Zimbabwe) and 5 others remain in custody.

Here are some of the responses we received:

• This is wonderful news!
• Great news! We wait for the 6. Keep up the spirit, keep up the fight!
• Thanks be to God. We pray for the remaining 6 to be granted freedom.
• Let’s keep on praying for the remaining ones.
• God is great.
• Time is on our side, we must be patient.
• We will win.
• The Almighty God’s power will deliver them.
• Acts 12 v 5-11 – I mean the same God who did it then will surely even today. Heb 13 v 8.
• Surely one day all of us will be free from bondage.
• The Almighty is a loving and caring Father who is going to lead us out of bondage like he did the Israelites out of Egypt!
• Thank you. Peace to the remaining 6.
• We pray for peace and a good government. Can the Almighty God bless all and release poverty and hunger for many of us to remember his Greatness. Amen.
• God is for us.
• Thank God.
• This is ridiculous. It’s meant to frustrate any meaningful activism here. Kuvhunduka chati kwacha.
• God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. He is doing it for the second time. The third time will be for all who are living in bondage myself included.
• They’ll detain even millions. Know your environment and characters. Action!
• Not fair they must all be relased. God is watching.
• No to treason. If that is the case we are not yet independent. No freedom. So we will go for it. What I know is God is watching. We are praying for their release.
• Certainly they’ll win their case because a remote control isn’t a weapon to threaten the security of the nation let alone the government. It’s a mockery of our justice system. Viva Munya.
• That’s very bad. How is the police force operating just detaining people for the sake of pleasing Zanu PF. Bad recipe.
• Gwisai demonstrated, so has Mugabe. Free him.
• We are with you guys. They cannot kill your spirit. Gwisai, the revolutionary fire in you can never be quenched by any force, whehter natural or supernatural. All African dictators must go this year!
• Shame to the spin doctor, he represents everything bad & evil in this country. To the 45 hang in there we’re with you in our prayers.
• Thank God let’s hope the remaining 6 will be released too.
• That’s better now. We hope and pray that the remaining will be released soon. Let justice prevail.
• Thanks the Almighty and your update.
• Fear of the people is driving them crazy and most dangerous. The masses keep quiet at their own peril. Todaay it’s Gwisai tomorrow it’s you & me!

I am thrilled to report the release of our colleague Lenard Kamwendo and 38 other detainees who had been facing treason charges in the case of the International Socialist Organisation (Zimbabwe)’s Munyaradzi Gwisai and 44 others. In the Magistrate’s court in Harare today, Magistrate Mutevedzi held that there was no reasonable suspicion against 39 of the detainees, and they have been released.

But Gwisai, Hopewell Gumbo of ZIMCODD and 4 others are still being held in custody. They will not appear in court again until 21 March – over a month since they were arrested for holding a meeting in which they discussed recent events in Tunisia and Egypt. They also deserve to be going home today. Free the 6 now.