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Thirty-three days and thirty-three nights of incarceration
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
November 01, 2012

After being incarcerated for exactly thirty-three days and thirty-three nights, the Zinasu Secretary General Tryvine Musokeri was yesterday (31 October) released on bail.

Musokeri was arrested on the 28th of September for failing to appear at a Magistrates Court in Gweru in connection to charges preferred on him and two others under the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA). The arrest could also have been politically motivated as it came soon after the launch of the final force campaign which aimed to mobilize students for massive demonstrations in reaction to the government's failure to pay for students on the cadetship scheme.

After being arrested at the Harare Magistrates Court and being taken to Harare Central Police station, Musokeri was transferred to WhaWha remand prison were he was held till the day of his release.

To any former colonial political detainee, Whawha prison brings a nostalgic feeling as it was one of the places were yesterday's detainees, many of whom are today's leaders were kept as a means of curtailing their political activity. The incarceration of human rights defenders such as Tryvine Musokeri who are most certainly going to be amongst tomorrow's national leaders in the same prison set-up as yesterday's colonial detainees amounts to what can be refereed to as political de ja vu.

Due to the odious, repugnant, repulsive and insalubrious conditions found at Whawha prison, Musokeri went through a terrible and indescribable ordeal. His body provided an exciting playground, a place to live and blood to drink for various kinds of blood thirsty insects found not only in Whawha but in most if not all of Zimbabwe's prisons and holding cells.

Tryvine Musokeri has come back from Whawha prison with a skin disease and unbearable chest pains which he blames on the dusty condition of the cell he was in but most importantly, he has come back with a strengthened resolve to fight the oppressive system that persecutes him, those he represents and many other human rights defenders.

Speaking to the Zinasu information department soon after his release Musokeri was asked if the long incarceration had in any way made him change his mind about representing students to which he replied, 'if anything, the long imprisonment has strengthened my resolve to fight for what I believe in and to fight against those who oppress students and the generality of Zimbabwe.'

He continued, 'some people think they are powerful because they can arrest us and persecute us but Mahtma Ghandi once remarked that strength does not come from physical capacity but from an indomitable will.'

'I, Tryvine Musokeri, have an indomitable will to see the students of Zimbabwe attending school without dropping out because of an irresponsible government that buys expensive vehicles for ministers but fails to pay fees for students on cadet. I have an indomitable will to see the full democratization of my country and no amount of persecution or detention can sop me. You can arrest me for fifty years but rest assured that when you release me, I will come back fighting for what I believe in.'

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