Posted by By Tichaona Sibanda
22 January 2010
Almost a year after the formation of the inclusive government at least 21 political detainees from the MDC are still locked up in the country’s filthy and inhuman prison cells, in Manicaland province.
After the formation of the unity government Robert Mugabe and Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi dismissed claims by the MDC that they were still detaining political prisoners.
But SW Radio Africa can reveal that nine MDC activists are still locked up at Rusape prison farm, 10 months after they were arrested in Buhera. Eleven other MDC activists are still detained since last year, at Chipinge prison farm and one is being held at the Mutare remand prison.
MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishai Muchauraya, told us that many of their activists are still languishing in jail on trumped-up charges. Another 93 activists are still on trial in Rusape, while others are just waiting for their court judgements.
‘We still have political detainees in Manicaland. All of them have been falsely charged with engaging in public violence. This is why as a party we accuse the attorney-general of selectively targeting MDC officials for prosecution, leaving accused members of ZANU PF roaming freely,’ Muchauraya said.
Those detained at Rusape prison farm were arrested in Buhera just after the burial of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife Susan, in March last year. They’re alleged to have assaulted ZANU PF supporters who were reportedly disrupting the funeral procession. All nine deny the charges.
‘Those detained in Chipinge face similar accusations of violence as well as the one activist in Mutare. We get extremely angry when our activists rot in prison when the actual murderers and torturers roam free in the country,’ said Muchauraya.
The MDC MP for Makoni South was referring to several known ZANU PF figures and CIO operatives, such as Joseph Mwale who was implicated in the murder of MDC activists, who have never been arrested or tried even though their whereabouts are known.
In 2008 over 200 MDC activists were murdered (although it’s believed the figure is much higher than that) and tens of thousands of MDC supporters were brutally tortured by known ZANU PF activists who still roam freely in their areas. From October 2008 to January 2009 there were around 30 abductions and prolonged detentions of both high profile and low level MDC activists and human rights defenders. While most of the high profile detainees have been released there is concern that low level MDC activists have been forgotten.
Despite the MDC being in government for a year now, the human rights situation remains extremely poor, and the government continues to restrict or deny fundamental rights. Serious abuses include the widespread use of torture in detention, very poor prison conditions with starvation rations, arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention without trial.
History of the Event: March 2009
More MDC activists have been arrested in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s home area. Last week violence broke out in parts of Buhera during the funeral of Susan Tsvangirai, with the MDC saying 10 homes belonging to their supporters were burnt down. At that time 17 party activists and the MDC Deputy Mayor of Mutare, Admire Mukorera, were arrested. The Deputy Mayor was released after being detained overnight, but the 17 activists were remanded in custody, to March 30th.
The arrests continued on Tuesday with a further 26 MDC activists being picked up in Buhera North. MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishai Muchauraya, said despite being released without charge at the weekend, the Mutare Deputy Mayor was also re-arrested and had his house raided at 4am on Tuesday. He was taken to Murambinda police station and is expected to appear in court on Wednesday with the latest group.
Muchauraya said that makes a total of 44 MDC members now in detention and accused of committing public violence on the 11th February – the day Amai Tsvangirai was buried. The MDC in Manicaland accuse the police of selectively using the law to target their supporters, leaving out the ZANU PF culprits. Muchauraya said they’ve been told by police sources that orders are coming directly from the top and named the Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri and Senior Police Assistant Commissioner Musarasana Mabunda from Harare as giving the directive to arrest MDC members.
“These are pure ZANU PF activists back at the police headquarters discharging their political duties. It has nothing to do with these so-called crimes committed. It’s just a ploy by ZANU PF to terrorise our supporters.”
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
My fellow Zimbos,do not be used by politicians.Look at what is going on,some of u are still languishing in jails,some were kidnapped and never found,some were killed while the MDC Leadership are living in style.Look at how fat they have grown.Cheerleaders will never notice and when i say the truth,they will just shout and yell.
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INDEED T MUSANGO.
but you seem to foget that freedom comes at a price. And through out Africa blood has been that price. Weather they follow the mdc or not zanu will kill who ever is not on their side.
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Baba Tee,i understand that but what breaks my heart is when this MDC Leadership say the unity gvt is working well,knowing very well that they have cadres languishing in jails.Y do they want to paint a rosy picture and yet every Tom,**** and Harry can see that nothing is really working?
This is where i am failing to understand their motive,we have Zimbos who were kidnapped and have never been accounted for,i would expect the MDC Leadership to act on that not to praise this murderous regime.
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T.Musango/Abel what can MDC do when the police chief refuses entry to the PM to the police cells, this further calls for sanctions to be maintained and even tightened more. We have agreed that the GPA is no 100% working because zanu is not coming to the party in terms of human rights, illegal appointments, farm siezures, cooked up cases (CDE R Bennet) etc. Call us cheerleaders all you like we will fight for Zimbabwe to return to democratic rule and economic stability.
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T Musango.
I think I am missing something, when did the MDC say the GNU is working well?? Of late they have said the talks are a deadlock. the talks are there to implement the gnu, then it will start working. When have they said its working when its not fully implemented?? am I missing something here???
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Baba Tee,i can not give u the dates but many times has Morgan said he is working well with his counterparts.He even went to a point where he said,Matibili is the solution and he is always consulted whenever anything is being done.
Only about a week ago,the MDC called for the removal of sanctions so that the country could move on.Is that not working well?
I have said,there are pple who were kidnapped and some are not yet accounted for,there are pple languishing in jail cause they support MDC.When Bennet was re-arrested,the MDC pulled-out,is he more equal?
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Baba TEE dont make a fool of yourself on the forum mate.Are you saying you never heard your leader saying Mugabe is part of the solution and the GNU is working well.Thats the problem with cheerleading, you become deaf and blind to your party’s blunders.
And by implication its working well for MDC-T because we heard last time they said if its not working well we will go back to the people by way of election so they can choose who they want.Now, did the chubby cheeked one not refuse an election just last week when proposed by Zuma? So by implication the GNU is working well.
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Guseni, are you so foolish to still insist that T.Musango is Abel? Why dont you ask the editor to verify that info for you.You are one of those myopic people who believe Zanu pf has only one supporter who happens to be Abel=T Musango=George Charamba= Jonathan Moyo etc all in one.
Your party is putting on a brave face but they know they have ziltch power in this arrangement.They only make a feeble attempt when their fundraiser is jailed but when its people like Mwonzora, they look aside and pretend nothing happened.That is not a sign of power my chief.
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Abel that was then, because we all thought he wanted zimbabwe to move forward.
Now they have changed tones,
So you are gonna hold on to what was said back then and ignore what is being said now?? AND PLEASE REFRAIN FROM INSULTING ME. just air your grievances like everybody else and not insult me PLEASE.
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T musango.
If you chose to see the weakness in the MDC that is your choice. I chose to see the strength and the progress they have brought to Zimbabwe since they joined this GNU. and as for ZANU’s weakness we will need a whole year just to mention them. And as you already know every situation has positives and negatives, just weigh them and see which are better, if you think the negatives are better then by all means go on and bad mouth all you want.
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Point taken T Musango. I believe the mdc should make a case for all those less well known supporters who are still in jail because of their support for mdc even though it will be an uphill battle(they should at least try and keep on trying).
The GNU is working it terms of issues that are more significant to the country as a whole and at the same time it’s not working in terms of overall authority and power sharing. I believe the mdc joined this agreement knowing full well that they would have to sacrifice overall power and authority to getting the country functioning again.This is also exactly why they are insisting on Gono and Tomana to go, they are trying to weaken or dilute zanu pf’s hold on to power.
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Thanks Abel,ihave tried several times to show this Guseni the light but to no avail that these days i do not bother to respond to him.
@Sori,yeh this is what is puzzling me and a lot others.The way they ran around when Bennet was arrested makes one wonder how different he is from any other MDC member.
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