Armed police swoop on Tsvangirai meeting in Mugabe homeland

A truck load of armed riot police swooped on opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s scheduled private meeting with opinion leaders in village 22 of the Nyamakate area in Robert Mugabe’s home province of Mashonaland West.

A statement from Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said “The team of 9, armed with guns and teargas and led by Makuti officer in charge Inspector Mugari, only moved away after they were confronted by villagers who refused to have their rights violated.”

According to Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai later addressed the community leaders and told them that they had an opportunity to end this culture of immunity in 2018.

“The police’s attempted disruption of the meeting confirmed President Tsvangirai’s message during his provincial tours that though the country was independent, Zimbabweans did not enjoy the requisite freedoms for which Zimbabweans waged a brutal war and which freedoms were enshrined in the Constitution,” Tamborinyoka said.

“Regardless of the fact that this was a private meeting at a private homestead, Mugabe’s armed police descended on the venue and threatened the property owner, Tadius Mazuduri, who refused to budge and insisted on his rights,” he added. Nehanda Radio