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Zimbabwe
state security agents target CSO'S at SADC summit
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
May 20, 2011
Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR) condemns the malevolent and illegal actions
of unidentified Zimbabwean state security agents who on Friday 20
May 2011 harassed Civil Society Organisation (CSO) representatives
at the SADC Extra-Ordinary Summit in Windhoek,
Namibia.
Some Zimbabwean
state security agents who refused to identify themselves, accompanied
by some Namibian law enforcement agents under unclear circumstances
interrogated some CSO leaders who were attending the SADC summit.
The CSO leaders
had on Thursday 19 May 2011 shared their position
concerning the road map to free and fair elections in Zimbabwe at
a press conference organised by the Southern Africa Development
Community-Council of Non Governmental Organizations (SADC-CNGO)
in partnership with NANGOF Trust, Namibia.
The CSOs also
attended another press conference that had been organised by the
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition focusing on CSOs input into the Zimbabwean
election debate.
First to be
targeted were about ten representatives including National Association
of Non
Governmental Organisations (NANGO) chairperson Dadirai Chikwengo,
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition officials MacDonald Lewanika, Pedzisayi
Ruhanya and Dewa Mavhinga and other representatives from the Zimbabwe
Election Support Network who had been distributing statements
with key demands from Zimbabwean CSOs at Safari Court hotel, the
venue of the Summit.
The CSO's
representatives were whisked away by Namibian law enforcement agents
while state security agents watched. During that time state security
agents asked Lewanika some questions on his personal details, his
business in Namibia, where he was residing, how long he had been
in Namibia and how he had arrived in the country.
The CSO representatives
were then told to leave the premises of the hotel after some interrogation
by the Zimbabwe state security agents.
The state security
agents also briefly detained Jelousy Mawarire for allegedly capturing
pictures and chased away Shastry Njeru of the Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum from the venue of the SADC Summit.
Mawarire, who
had his pictures deleted from his camera, was later released after
the intervention of Namibian human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe.
Also targeted
were ZLHR Executive Director Irene Petras, Joy Mabenge of Institute
for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe, Lloyd Kuveya of Southern
Africa Litigation Centre, Makanatsa Makonese of SADC Lawyers Association
who were having a meeting at the hotel. The four CSO representatives
were force-marched into the hotel's parking area by two armed
Namibian police who took them to the Namibian Chief Inspector dealing
with security at the Summit and the Zimbabwean security agents.
The Zimbabwean
state security agents were very hostile and proceeded to profile
Petras, Mabenge, Kuveya and Makonese. They refused to identify themselves.
The CSO representatives
were interrogated by the state security agents for more than one
hour and the questions centered around their personal details, their
mission in Namibia, their place of residence in Namibia, and their
residential addresses in Zimbabwe while officials from the Zimbabwean
embassy were observing.
ZLHR strongly
condemns this despicable conduct and reminds the state security
agents and the government that civil society has the right to have
its voice heard that is why there is a strong delegation drawn from
various networks in Zimbabwe and the region. The actions of the
state security agents highlights the need to urgently reform the
security sector players as enunciated in the Global
Political Agreement as they continue to be a law unto themselves
even beyond the borders of Zimbabwe.
Visit the ZLHR
fact
sheet
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