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Crisis
Condemns Arrest of Manicaland Pastor
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition
February 19, 2003
The Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition condemns the needless and unlawful detention of Pastor
Immanuel Hlabangana, of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Manicaland,
last week.
On Monday 10 February,
members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) came to Hlabangana’s
office at Christian Care, Mutare, and said they wanted to see him. Hlabangana
went to their offices that afternoon, where he was questioned for 2˝ hours.
The CIO questioning centred around three main themes:
- The nature of his
work with Christian Care: The CIO accused him of distributing food to
opposition supporters. In particular, they questioned his distribution
of food in Buhera and Chipinge. When Hlabangana said that he was not
senior enough in the organisation to comment, the CIO accused him of
hiding information.
- Digging up the
past: Hlabangana attended a workshop sponsored by the UNDP and organised
by the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa. The workshop was attended
by Zimbabwean civil society leaders, regional diplomats, and by Members
of Parliament from both Zanu PF and the MDC. Hlabangana presented a
paper in which he recommended that one solution to the current cycle
of violence in Zimbabwe would be to open up a Truth and Reconciliation
Process similar to that used by South Africa. He proposed that this
Commission should examine the entire Zimbabwean history since 1980.
The CIO accused him of trying to trench up the past, and suggested what
he should say in his paper next time.
- Threat to National
Security: The CIO accused Hlabangana of presenting a threat to national
security, and accused him of funding the MDC and the NCA. It is not
clear where these allegations stemmed from.
On 12 February, Hlabangana
was contacted by the ZRP Mutare Rural. They said they wanted to charge
him under Section 24 of the Public Order and Security Act, organising
an illegal meeting. When Hlabangana and his lawyer, Arnold Tsunga, went
to see the police at the Magistrate in Mutare, he was interrogated for
1˝ hours. The police accused him of organising an illegal church meeting
on 21 January. This despite the fact that, according to POSA, church meetings
are permissible and do not need to have permission.
He has since been
contacted and informed that he is wanted for further questioning.
These detentions and
questioning occurred in the same week that the EFZ President, Bishop Trevor
Manhanga, also of Mutare, was detained for four hours by the Police in
Borrowdale, Harare. The Bishop was scheduled to address a public meeting
which police disrupted, even though notification of this meeting had been
filed with the police.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition condemns the interrogation and detention of Pastor Hlabangana.
This and similar detentions of other pro-democracy voices present clear
indications of the extent to which the ruling party now governs not by
humanitarian values but by paranoia and intimidation.
The Coalition calls
for the immediate repeal of POSA, and demands the non-enforcement of this
repressive and draconian legislation by members of the police and intelligence
forces. Moreover, it calls for an end of the needless and wilful harassment
of church and civil society leaders who wish to express their individual
positions, consistent with their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of
expression.
Brian Raftopoulos
Chairperson,
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Visit
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