Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

ZIMBABWE
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
ing motionless in the cell. “He is
stretched [out] on the cold floor and
cannot talk, walk or even sit. The doctor
said he was concerned about him
and has gone to see the police officers
about him,” Munyuki reported.
The doctor, who preferred to remain
anonymous, later spoke to “The Daily
News” that same night. He confirmed
that Munyuki had sustained a fracture
and said Mukoyi was in bad condition
and was starting to have convulsions.
“I suspect Mukoyi sustained serious
abdominal injuries consistent with severe
beating. He is now having convulsions,”
the doctor said.
Munyuki said that apart from
Mukoyi and himself, it appeared that
five other people had been injured, including
a woman who allegedly sustained
a broken leg. He confirmed that
the woman had been released.
The trouble started when the riot
police descended on the rally organised
by the MDC in Harare’s Africa
Unity Square and at the MDC offices
on Mbuya Nehanda Street, in the city
centre. A total of 60 people, including
the journalists, were arrested at the
MDC offices, while 25 others were
rounded up in the square. Eyewitnesses
said the police drove a Puma vehicle
into a crowd of about 2,000 persons
gathered outside the MDC offices,
causing people to flee in all directions.
They said armed riot police arrived at
the MDC offices 20 minutes after the
rally started and used brute force to
break it up. MDC spokesman
Learnmore Jongwe said the police
fired shots into the air to disrupt the
rally, before arresting people, “most of
whom were just passers-by caught in
the crossfire.” A security guard on duty
in the area said he counted five
gunshots. Munyuki, Mauluka and
Mukwecheni, who arrived on the scene
after the rally had been dispersed, were
arrested at 1:15 p.m.
The police said they had known
journalists from “The Daily News”
would come to cover the rally because,
“your newspaper always acts in cahoots
with the MDC. You always lie
about the police. After this, you can
write about real police brutality,”
Mauluka reported.
Mauluka said the police had recorded
the details of the arrested men
and women but had not formally
charged them. “They merely herded us
into the cells,” he said. “They did not
even search us or ask us to remove our
shoes, as normally happens.” Munyuki
had his mobile phone on him that night
and was thus able to communicate with
his office.
A police officer said the detained
people would be charged under Section
31 (c) of the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA). The section
states, “Any person who, at a public
gathering behaves in a threatening,
abusive or insulting manner intending
to prevent the transaction of the business
for which the gathering is called
together, shall be guilty of an offence
and liable to a fine not exceeding
$50,000, or two years in jail, or both”.
The police spokesperson, Assistant
Police Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena, said the police stopped the
rally because MDC activists had gone
around the city beating people up and
trying to provoke trouble. “We had told
the organisers they could not hold their
rally at the Harare Gardens because
that venue and the atmosphere in the
city are not conducive for political
gatherings,” he told Reuters news
So This Is Democracy? 235