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Personal testimony on harrassment by the police
Esther Mlilo*, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
April 04, 2005

Read Police abuse of women arrested at prayer vigil

* Esther Mlilo, Mabutweni Township, Bulawayo (name changed to protect her identity). Age: 74-year-old. Grandmother of 4 HIV/Aids orphans who rely on her to provide for them.

I left Bulawayo after voting to go to Harare to pray for peace and for the elections not to be stolen. Nobody forced me to travel but my empty stomach forced me to join other WOZA women.

When we arrived in Harare it was very late because the bus carrying us had to queue for fuel in Gweru. As we neared Africa Unity Square, some women told us that many women had already been arrested and that we should go away. Our leader took us to the railway station waiting room for refuge.

After some time, police drove in at high speed and rushed in shouting, "Face down, lie down". We did this and they beat us with their baton sticks. Those that refused to lie down were beaten as they stood up. After this they then walked on us with their boots. They were saying, "Go back to Bulawayo - to Blair and MDC. Harare is a no go area."

After being soundly beaten I began to feel pain so I said to them, " Have you not had enough?" They came to me and said they wanted to kill me. They beat me on my shoulder and my left side went numb. They said to me, " Now you can pray because you are going to die."

I prayed saying, Lord God I am here because I am suffering with my grandchildren. I am being beaten but I know you see what they are doing to me. You are the only one that can stop them from beating us. I will accept your will to be done but I have suffered during the Gukurahundi. I lost all my family but I survived."

They stopped me and pushed me with a metal bar in my lower abdomen and on my kidneys, saying you are dying now. But instead I think God answered my prayer because they made us stand up and walk to Harare Central Police station. We were herded like cattle for the 3 city blocks, and they shouted at us all the time. When we arrived at the police station, they beat us to quickly join others seated there. I felt better to see faces I know from WOZA amongst the big crowd under arrest.

By this time I was very pressed and asked to go to the toilet, they refused me chasing me away to sit down. All of us spent the night on the cold floor in the open space and we were often intimidated and threatened by a policeman, guarding us with an AK 47 Rifle. I saw other women beaten as they arrived at the police station; some women almost fell to the ground when police beat them to force them to get out of the truck.

When morning came, our leaders started to demand lawyers so we could have food and access to toilets. No food came in and we had more threats from police to force us to pay fines or spend the weekend in the cells. One policeman said he would beat us all back against a wall if we did not cooperate. They said some of us would disappear over the weekend. The women were very brave and answered back that they would not pay fines as they had done nothing wrong. The lawyers arrived and after speaking to our leaders, they advised us to pay fines. I still want to say Thank you to them for their help. The police were saying we blocked traffic in the Africa Unity Square but there are no roads in that square which has gardens and a fountain.

I was made to pay fines with the other who were badly injured and taken to Hospital. I spent 3 nights in Hospital being treated for my bruises and damaged shoulder. I prayed to get well quickly so I can continue to do the WOZA work that my stomach is forcing me to do.

As a Grandmother, I am shocked that these policemen do not respect me as an elder. On the 8th March, I was also arrested before we could do the International Women's Day march. I was with 14 others. The police in Bulawayo treated me with respect although I was under arrest. They said they wanted to search my house but when they got there, they felt shy and said they had not right to do so. I was released after 4 hours. These Police in Harare wanted to beat us because we come from Matabeleland but many of the WOZA women arrested are also from Harare.

In my 74 years, I have seen the Smith Government, where we had food and could survive well even though we could not vote - the Smith Government targeted the freedom fighters not ordinary people like me. But this regime of Mugabe unleashed Gukurahundi and I lost everything in my home. I had a beautiful home and they looted and burnt it down. I was left with nothing and if the trend continues as it is I will continue to have nothing.

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