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WOZA
leader arrested and held overnight at Bulawayo Central - News and
updates
Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
September 18, 2007
WOZA leader,
Magodonga Mahlangu was arrested this morning at 8am in Bulawayo
having come into town to do shopping. She has been held all day
in the Law and Order section of Bulawayo Central Police Station
and it is now clear that she will be held overnight. On arriving
at Central, Mahlangu was served with a summons for a court appearance
on 27th September. She was also told that the bosses of Law and
Order wanted to question her. She has not been charged however and
as she was being held in the same room as ZCTU
members, it is suspected that her arrest and detention is linked
to the planned
ZCTU strike on 19th and 20th September.
Human rights
lawyers were in attendance through the day and reported that she
is in good spirits. There is concern for her well being however
given the various death threats made against her in the recent past
and given the brutal beatings that ZCTU members received yesterday
in Harare.
News
update
Wednesday 19th - 10am
Mahlangu remains
in custody - at Figtree - still not charged
Magodonga Mahlangu remains
in custody this morning. She still has not been charged. On arriving
at Bulawayo Central this morning to bring her breakfast, the support
team were informed that she spent the night at Figtree Police Station,
approximately 40km from Bulawayo. She was allowed access to her
lawyer at Figtree this morning and is unharmed, although has received
several death threats from officers in the Law and Order section
at Bulawayo Central. Those who were responsible for the battering
and disappearance of her dog are threatening that she will meet
the same fate as Snowy. It is still unclear as to why she has been
arrested.
Reports have come in
that two other WOZA members were also arrested this morning. Again
it is not clear why they were picked up.
More news will
be made available as it emerges.
News
update
Wednesday 19th - 2pm
Mahlangu and
2 others released - charged with malicious damage to property
All three WOZA
members arrested yesterday, including Magodonga Mahlangu, were finally
released at 1pm today. They have been charged under the Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act - section 140 - malicious
damage to property and section 143 (b) - ' the crime of malicious
damage to property or negligently causing serious damage to property
is committed against property that is owned, possessed or controlled
by the State, a statutory corporation or a local authority.' These
charges are as a result of recent calls to choose love over hate
that have appeared on roads in the western suburbs of Bulawayo.
There is no evidence whatsoever to link any of the three arrested
with the road markings however.
The two other members
arrested, Rosemary Siziba and Sitshiyiwe Ngwenya, were picked up
from their homes late last night and taken to Donnington Police
Station, where they were held until lunch today. Rosemary Siziba
was with her one and a half year old daughter.
None of the members were
physically harmed but Law and Order officers Ngwenya, Mathonsi and
Mutyayambidzi threatened Mahlangu with death whilst still in Bulawayo
Central Police Station; telling her that she would meet the same
fate as her dog, Snowy, which was battered to death by police officers
during a raid on Mahlangu's home in recent weeks.
In the last week, police
have raided and searched the homes of two other members looking
for paint, although they did not find any in either home.
Visit WOZA fact
sheet
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