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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Strikes and Protests 2007- Save Zimbabwe Campaign
Irreparable
dent on Zimbabwe's human rights record
MISA-Zimbabwe
March 16, 2007
View Save Zimbabwe
Campaign index
of images and articles
Three ambulances,
with their sirens blurring, lights flashing and speeding towards
the Avenues Clinic in Harare, a 15-seater mini-bus was following
- under the escort of a truck-load of armed riot police. One would
have been excused for thinking the convoy was coming from the scene
of a life threatening traffic accident.
Far from it. They
were all being driven from a court of law on 13 March 2007 - Court
6 at the Harare Magistrates Courts to be precise.
Fifty people arrested
for exercising their constitutional right to assembly had previously
been rushed to court in a half-hearted attempt to "comply"
with a High Court order which had been issued the previous night.
The order had stated that the accused were to be released if they
did not appear at the Magistrates Court by 12 midday on 13 March
2007.
High Court judge
Justice Chinembiri’s orders, among them, that the accused should
be granted access to their lawyers had simply been ignored. The
right to legal representation is constitutionally guaranteed and
any law abiding police officer does not necessarily need to be first
presented with a court order in order to allow lawyers access to
their clients.
Harrison Nkomo,
a Harare lawyer was severely assaulted by a uniformed police officer
at a police station. His offence - he wanted to check on his clients
who were detained at the police station. The police officer who
assaulted him told him in no uncertain terms that the lawyer’s calling
should be confined to the Courts and not extend to police stations.
One shudders as
to whether his utterances are consistent with the training he received
before being attested into the police force.
Tsvangirai Mukwazhi,
a freelance photojournalist and Tendai Musiyazviriyo, who is a freelance
film producer, were arrested on 11 March 2007 together with the
leader of the opposition MDC Morgan Tsvangirai, his secretary-general
and legislator, Tendai Biti, spokesperson William Bango, secretary
for information Nelson Chamisa and senior party official Grace Kwinje,
Authur Mutambara leader of the other MDC faction, legislator Job
Sikhala and Lovemore Madhuku chairman of the National
Constitutional Assembly, among scores of other citizens.
Mukwazhi’s whereabouts
had remained unknown until his appearance in court following his
arrest on 11 March 2007 when police disrupted a national prayer
meeting that had been scheduled for Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield
under the auspices of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. Gift Tandare,
an MDC activist, was shot and killed in Highfield on the same day
when police cordoned off Zimbabwe Grounds, venue of the planned
national day of prayer.
Looking at the
journalists, political and human rights activists and the other
accused persons crammed in the docket, one would have been easily
excused for thinking they were being held in an emergency room awaiting
to be attended to by a medical doctor. One of the accused could
hardly stand on his own and for almost three hours lay prostrate
on the filthy floors in Court 6.
Pleas that if
the man was not attended to urgently he would die in court fell
on deaf ears. The accused persons probably owe their lives to the
subsequent courageous decision by the acting director of public
prosecutions Florence Ziyambi that the man and the rest of the accused
in similar condition should be taken to hospital.
It is only at
that stage that staff from the EMRAS ambulance service was allowed
to bring a stretcher into the packed court room for purposes of
taking him to hospital. Some ninenteen hours earlier, Justice Bhunu
had ordered that medical personnel be allowed to attend to the injured
and bruised.
What offence had
the 50 committed to warrant such callous treatment? Is it an offence
to be a journalist in Zimbabwe? The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s
news department’s motto is: We will be there when it happens. As
to whether they were there in Highfield on the fateful day is only
a matter of conjecture in view of the news blackout on the arrests
and fate of the accused. Suffice to say Mukwazhi and Musiyazviriyo
were there when it happened ready to capture the events as they
unfolded only to be thrown into police cells. Mukwazhi was severely
assaulted while in police cells.
When an Assistant
Commissioner Mabunda addressed lawyers representing the arrested
persons on Tuesday 13 March 2007 at 2300 hours, he instructed his
junior to ensure that the journalists who were present should be
removed from the scene.
The duty of a
journalist is simply to record and report events as they happen.
Mukwazhi and Musiyazviriyo
were obviously simply responding to the call of duty when they drove
to Highfield on the day in question.
Zimbabwe is a
multi-party democracy. It is therefore not an offence to belong
to the opposition neither is it an offence for journalists to cover
events as they unfold before their eyes and cameras.
The events of
11 March 2007 pose serious questions as to whether Zimbabwe is a
multi-party democracy as they have inflicted an irreparable dent
on the country’s human rights record, tolerance to opposing views,
freedom of expression and media freedom.
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