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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Post-election violence 2008 - Index of articles & images
Arrest
and harassment of NCA activists and officials
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
June
11, 2008
The NCA continues to
be subjected to an orgy of intimidation and violence at the hands
of ZANU PF militias and the police.
On Tuesday, 10 June,
ZANU PF militias shut down the NCA office in Masvingo. The closure
of the office followed a spate of violent activities by members
of ZANU PF youth militias that resulted in the shuttering of the
office's windows on the night of Friday, 6 June. NCA staff
in Masvingo were also exposed to personal threats from the militias.
Today, 11 June, uniformed
members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police forced the NCA Matebeleland
South office to close on the grounds that NGOs must not be operating
as per the government's recent directive.
NCA officers and members
throughout the country have been the targets of political violence
in recent weeks. On Sunday, 8 June, the police arrested the NCA
Chairperson for Guruve Constituency, Biggie Bangira, on baseless
grounds. On the same day, the home of the NCA Information Secretary
in Epworth, Musa Mabika, was torched by ZANU PF militia. Mabika's
wife and sister were severely beaten and are currently recovering
in a local hospital. In recent days, Leon Chiimba, the NCA Mashonaland
East Chairperson, received death threats from ZANU PF militias and
was forced to flee his home.
These and other incidents
of intimidation and violence directed at NCA members and other Zimbabweans
point to a dangerous and unacceptable pattern of state-sponsored
violence that is shrinking democratic space in Zimbabwe. The current
constitutional framework creates an environment in which barbaric
acts can be perpetrated, and human rights violated, with impunity.
The people of Zimbabwe are now living in fear of those who purport
to have liberated them.
This is not democracy.
This is not what the war of liberation was waged for. The revolution
cannot be protected by acts that violate the very principles upon
which the revolution must be based. This betrayal by the current
government and those with a vested interest in upholding dictatorship
cannot be tolerated. The time has come for the people of Zimbabwe
to be liberated from the oppressive constitutional regime presided
over by ZANU PF.
To its members and officials
who have been exposed to acts of violence and intimidation the NCA
says: Do not give up. Keep up the fight. Freedom is on its way.
Visit the NCA
fact
sheet
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