Government Intensifies Crackdown On Dissent Ahead Of SADC Summit, Say Human Rights Lawyers
Zimbabwean human lawyers say the ZANU PF-led government has intensified its crackdown on perceived dissent by arresting numerous individuals ahead of the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for August 17, 2024, in Harare.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said that a former opposition legislator was abducted from his home on Thursday night by unknown assailants, who later handed him over to the police.
Furthermore, several villagers in Gokwe were arrested for allegedly participating in an anti-government demonstration, while a social and economic justice campaigner in Harare was taken into custody in connection with riots that occurred five years ago. Said the ZLHR:
Authorities in Zimbabwe have intensified a crackdown against perceived dissent by arresting more people on the eve of the troubled southern African country hosting a meeting of leaders of SADC, a regional bloc.
In Harare, some unidentified people on Thursday raided the residence of Hon. Costa Machingauta, a former opposition Citizens Coalition for Change political party legislator, during the night and forcibly took him and held him incommunicado after roughing up his minor children.
Lawyers from ZLHR later located Hon. Machingauta at Harare Central Police, where ZRP officers charged him with public violence.
In Gokwe in Midlands province, ZRP officers arrested 12 people, whom they accused of having participated in an anti-govt demonstration, where they allegedly denounced President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his administration including his assumption of the position of SADC Chairperson at a meeting of the regional bloc’s leaders scheduled to be held in Harare on Saturday.
The Gokwe villagers, who are represented by ZLHR, include Enios Siacheya, Mike Gibson, Manka Ncube, Tendai Dube, Rosemary Mangwaira, Mary Siankumbile, Queen Sianjama, Egnes Siabwela, Dickson Mbelele and Beauty Chuma…
In Harare, ZRP has arrested Darlington Madzonga, a social and economic justice campaigner, for allegedly participating in an anti-government protest held in January 2019.
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