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Tsvangirai mourners repel police intrusion
Kumbirai Mafunda,The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
June 22, 2006

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=1363

ABOUT 25 policemen yesterday attempted to disrupt burial proceedings at the funeral of Chibwe Dzingai Tsvangirai (78), the father of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who died on Sunday.

Mourners who attended the funeral told The Financial Gazette yesterday that a truckload of armed policemen from Murambinda Police Station descended on Tsvangirai's homestead ordering mourners to take off the opposition party's regalia.

The police are reported to have argued that wearing party regalia at a funeral is forbidden under the Public Order and Security Act, which the government has selectively applied to stifle political dissent.

The mourners, who included MDC leaders, said police only retreated after fierce resistance from some opposition legislators who challenged the law enforcement agents to show them the sections which the mourners had violated.

"That was resisted and they were forced to retreat," said Tsvangirai’s spokesman William Bango.
Tsvangirai's father died at Murambinda General Hospital on Sunday night after he was admitted in the morning with an undisclosed ailment.

Bango, who confirmed the police's alleged actions, challenged Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi to bring the concerned policemen to book.

"Mr Tsvangirai believes the tenets of citizenship and general moral ethics universally demands that normal people should respect the dead," said Bango. "For that reason he maintains the callous behaviour of police in interfering with the burial arrangements of his father should be condemned by all right thinking Zimbabweans," he added.

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