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WOZA seeks eviction of police occupying their offices
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
June 15, 2011

High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi will on Friday 17 June 2011 hear an application filed by lawyers representing the Women of Zimbabwe Arise Trust (WOZA) seeking to evict members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), who have occupied a house belonging to the women pressure group in one of Bulawayo's suburbs since last week.

Kossam Ncube of Kossam Ncube and Partners, who is a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and is representing WOZA filed an urgent chamber application on Tuesday 14 June 2011 seeking an order compelling Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Chief Superintendent P.R Moyo, the Officer Commanding CID Law and Order Section at Bulawayo Central Police Station and the Officer In Charge CID Law and Order Section at Bulawayo Central Police Station to remove all police officers from the house and the yard outside with immediate effect and to bar the police from removing anything whatsoever from the house.

In the application, the Jenni Williams led WOZA wants the High Court to restore back to the organisation full and undisturbed occupation of the house.

Police officers have been occupying the property which WOZA uses as an office in one of Bulawayo's suburbs since Friday 10 June 2011 when they raided the WOZA offices at a time when some WOZA members were holding a meeting to discuss the electricity outages bedeviling the country more particularly the incessant load shedding coupled with the inexplicable and exorbitant electricity bills with a view to petitioning Parliament to seek redress to the situation.

Since the raid last week, the police have maintained a continuous presence at the house thereby depriving WOZA of possession and usage of the house under the guise of searching for subversive materials.

WOZA says because of the occupation it has been unable to use the property for its purposes.

WOZA says it decided to petition the High Court after the police occupying the WOZA offices chased away lawyers for the organisation Ncube and Nosimilo Chanayiwa of ZLHR when they attempted to intervene.

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