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Youth arrested for mobilizing peers
Youth Agenda Trust
May 13, 2013

Six Youth Agenda Trust youth were yesterday (12 May 2013) arrested in Glen View for mobilizing other youth to register as voters. The youth were arrested at Glen View 6 primary school at taken to Glen View police station where they were detained from 10am until 10PM. They were charged for criminal nuisance and were only released after YAT paid $10 each for the youth.

The youth who included 7 month old Dylan Mwasha are, Anesu Tevera(25), Yemukai Singwere (23), Sanisai Masimo (19), Siria Sete (23), Arnold Svotwa (22) and Russel Mutyambizi were all dragged to the police station where they were all quizzed for mobilizing their peers. They were arrested by Sergeant Kahiya also of Glen View police.
The youth, who all expressed dismay over the conduct of the police, called for principals in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to immediately reign in the security sector and order them to respect the democratic rights of all Zimbabweans.

Youth Agenda Trust last year trained youth from 6 provinces to effectively mobilize their peers to participate in elections and has since been conducting electoral indabas, road shows and sports tournaments aimed at improving the qualitative participation of the youth in the electoral process. The efforts of the six, are a culmination of this broader civic education that YAT has been carrying out.

Youth Agenda Trust views the arrests as a deliberate ploy by the police to distract the voter registration process as they knew that the youth were not guilty of any offence and were detained until the registration process was closed. YAT feels that the latest act by the law enforcement agents is the clearest sign yet that as we move towards elections, there is high likelihood that youth will be intimidated from participating in the electoral process.

Calls for security sector reform are growing louder as general elections reaches home stretch, and police actions like these reinforces such calls. YAT reiterates that all reforms guaranteed by the GPA including the security sector should be implemented before elections to ensure that the polls are free and fair.

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