|
Back to Index
Chipangano
a business outfit hiding behind Zanu PF
Precious
Shumba
October 31, 2011
Download
this document
- Acrobat
PDF version (38.8KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here
So much has
been written about the Chipangano (agreement) shadowy group, notorious
for its crude reaction to opposition to Zanu PF. However, there
has been a clear distinction in the manner the private and the state-controlled
media has covered similar events where this outfit is involved.
While there have been attempts to make the Chipangano grouping a
formal Zanu PF outfit, the leadership has always disowned them,
instead claiming this group belonged to the MDC. That is untrue
and those in Zanu PF know this.
In this installment
I will explore the origins and motives of this grouping, made of
young women and men, mostly drawn from Mbare-s different hostels
and Jo-burg Lines. It will be an injustice if I end without
highlighting some of their major actions and actors, their backgrounds
and linkages within the unfolding Zanu PF succession battle. An
in-depth analysis of these will follow. I will prove that this group
is merely there to protect business interests of various leaders
within Zanu PF, who also use the outfit to intimidate and silence
critics and opponents. I will lastly attempt to suggest solutions
to ending the reign of terror by this outfit.
Mbare residents
live in fear. They are constantly harassed and threatened with beatings.
And they are consistently forced to attend meetings, with unclear
agendas, convened outside bars, markets, in corridors, and pambureni
(where firewood is sold), and in open spaces, even at service stations.
Mostly, there is no notice of the meetings but rowdy young men and
women move into your neighbourhood and coerce everyone to attend
meetings.
How do you locate
the security apparatus in all this? In terms of Section 25 (1) (b)
of the Public
Order and Security Act (Chapter 11:17), a convener of a meeting
should give a notice of the intention to hold a meeting, in writing
signed by him or her to the regulating authority for the district
in which the public meeting is to be held.
The Act further
states in Section 25 (5) that "Any person who knowingly fails
to give notice of a gathering in terms of this section, shall be
guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level twelve
or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or to both
such fine and such imprisonment."
Taken literally,
the above paragraph means that anyone who convenes a meeting without
notifying the police shall be arrested. That is not the practice
the nation has witnessed in relation to Chipangano. This outfit
has been exempt from these legal requirements and the Police have
a lot to explain on this.
Download
full document
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
