MDC supporters arrested for ‘unlawful assembly’
A group of alleged MDC supporters in Beitbridge have been arrested for convening a rally without police clearance and inciting others to join.
The accused — a teenager and nine other residents — face charges of assembling unlawfully.
They were arrested on Saturday and charged under the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) — a draconian law routinely invoked by authorities to curtail the activities of perceived opponents of President Robert Mugabe’s administration.
MDC supporters have been repeatedly arrested for convening illegal rallies and leading protests over misgovernance in Zimbabwe.
The 10’s representatives from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), told the Daily News that they managed to have them released on bail.
Among them is 16-year-old Evelyn Gumbochuma, Morgan Ncube, 35, Elliot Mangombe, 45, Emmanuel Takutaku, 33, 41-year-old Egness Tore, Nicholas Tsvanhu, 40, Marry Ngorima, 39, Onias Mahara, 20, Zacharia Mataera, 27, and 21-year-old Bruce Hove.
They were charged with contravening Section 25 (4) of Posa after they allegedly failed to notify the police, as the regulating authority, of their public gathering.
The rally — kick-starting MDC’s 2018 elections campaign — was one of the boldest populist challenges to Mugabe’s Zanu PF 37-year long leadership.
Prosecutors alleged that the 10, who are reportedly affiliated to Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, held a meeting at Dulibadzimu Bus Terminus, where over 60 people attended.
Prosecutors charged that during the unsanctioned meeting, the group allegedly disturbed the day-to-day activities of some Beitbridge residents whom they addressed, intending to recruit them to join the MDC. Daily News
