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Women protesters held in Zimbabwe
Mail & Guardian
September 29, 2004

Police in Zimbabwe arrested 48 women on a protest march against new legislation on Tuesday that they say will be used to restrict human rights organisations. The members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) had walked 400km from Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city, and were stopped just 30km from Harare, their destination.

The organiser, Jenni Williams, said the marchers, and four men who volunteered to protect them as they slept by the roadside en route, were taken to Norton police station. A police spokesperson, assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, told Zimbabwe state television that the women had been arrested for staging an illegal protest and would be charged under security laws. Bvudzijena said the women initially claimed they were on a fundraising march for their church, but were found carrying placards with political messages.

Williams said the women began the 12-day march last week to raise money and awareness for human rights work at a time when Robert Mugabe's government had proposed a law to restrict human rights organisations. "This was a march to protest against the government's plans to enact the NGO (non-governmental organisations) bill, which we all believe will be used as a repressive tool to ban and to control human rights work in Zimbabwe," said Williams.

The NGO bill seeks to ban foreign human rights groups and bar local advocacy groups from campaigning on "issues of governance". Mugabe accuses Britain and other western powers of using NGOs to work against his government. Woza has become one of the most militant groups protesting at the government. The women, almost all black and churchgoers, have in the past protested at food shortages by banging empty pots and pans in the streets. Williams said that, since the group was founded in 2002, at least 300 members have been arrested for what she called "trivial issues", such as handing out red roses symbolising peace on Valentine's day and calling for the lowering of food prices.

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