|
Back to Index
Tsunga detained at the airport, released after interrogation
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
January
26, 2007
Today the 25th
of January at 1434 hours, Arnold Tsunga the director of Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition chairperson
was detained at the Harare International Airport. Tsunga was coming
from the World Social Forum in Nairobi Kenya and his brief detention
may be linked to the protests that the Zimbabwean delegation organized
in Kenya. The delegation hogged the world’s limelight by protesting
against the Zimbabwean government’s socio- economic and political
projects every day from 1630 to 1730 hours at Kasarani inn Nairobi
from the 20th to the 24th of January. Zimbabwe featured alongside
Swaziland and Sudan as Africa’s key problem areas.
Mr. Tsunga was
released after he had asked for the names of the three police officers
who had detained him and informed them that they will be personally
responsible for anything that would happen to him. Dewa Mavhinga,
a lawyer who was part of the delegation of 34 Zimbabweans, represented
Tsunga in the matter where one of the officers coded the detention
as "a routine exercise". This leaves an egg in the government
propaganda machinery which selects one Tsunga out of 34 other people
for "routine exercise."
Crisis condemns
such psychological war games by the regime and declares that the
coalition’s vision to see a democratic Zimbabwe will not collapse
with such threats.
NCA takes to
the streets. Meanwhile the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) took to the streets today demanding
the government to take the issue of constitutional reforms seriously
and dismissing the proposals to amend the constitution which will
accommodate President Robert Mugabe for two more years without the
people’s mandate.
More than three
hundred members of the NCA marched from the public transport terminus
of Market Square, entering into Nelson Mandela, towards the parliament
to hand over their petition. However, marauding police officers
pounced on them as they were 500 meters away from the august house
entrance.
One of the activists
was critically injured after the police indiscriminately pounced
on him and arbitrarily pummeling him. Earnest Mudzengi, the NCA
National Coordinator stated that the injured cadre has since been
taken to Avenues clinic where he is receiving treatment. "We
deplore the lack of professionalism in the police force. That’s
not the way the police are supposed to react to a peaceful demonstration.
This is the very same way they reacted on the ZCTU
demonstration and it only spells out one end, that they have become
appendages of the ruling party which is contrary to their code of
conduct…"said Mudzengi.
The NCA has
been on the fore front in calling on the government of Zimbabwe
to embrace the demands of Zimbabweans who are calling for a new
people driven constitution which will define the frame work to which
democratic activities will take place. A democratic constitution
will lead to the leveling of the electoral field, define the presidential
powers and ceiling of presidential terms, put an end to incompetent
commissions such as the Electoral Commission, Media and information
Commission (MIC) among others.
It is the coalition’s
humble submission that, the police should stop this nefarious and
brutal conduct promptly. The police’s actions are against both domestic
and international law provisions which call upon the uniformed forces
to apply minimal force on civilian activities. The Zimbabwean police’s
definition of minimal force is skewed, as the ZCTU members suffered
broken limbs, deep cuts and grievous wounds from minimal force.
There is therefore need to redefine the concept of minimal force.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
