Police in Bulawayo on Wednesday arrested three men who attempted to demonstrate in the city centre against the current economic hardships.
The demonstration was supposed to start at noon from a major retail outlet towards the Joshua Nkomo statue. The protest was dubbed “Citizens Demonstration”.
However, the police swopped on Mzaca Ngulube, Shelton Tembo and Godson Phiri before they could start the march. Speaking to the Daily News, Ngulube said:
This is shocking. As per the law, we notified the police of our intention to have a peaceful demonstration, but in the end, we have been arrested, so what does it tell us about the rule of law and democracy in this country.
However, the police said that Ngulube did not show up after being invited to clarify some issues to do with the planned demonstration. Bulawayo acting police spokesperson, inspector Abednico Ncube, said:
Of course, he had notified the police but there were issues that he was supposed to verify such that the police, for example, would know the route to be used and also the number of police officers needed for those demonstrations.
In any case, the police were not against the demonstration, only that he didn’t follow the requirements.