Police in the Zimbabwean capital Harare on Saturday arrested more than 50 members of the main opposition party who were canvassing ahead of a by-election, the opposition said. But police have denied the claim.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in a statement that those arrested were carrying out home visits in the suburb of Kuwadzana, where a by-election is to be held at the end of the month.
The arrested were being held for violating Zimbabwe’s stringent Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the MDC statement said. Police representative Bothwell Mugariri denied the arrests. ”That is not correct,” Mugariri told AFP. He said five suspected MDC supporters had been arrested late on Friday. The five were allegedly on their way to attack a shop belonging to a ruling party supporter.
He said he had no record of any other MDC arrests in Kuwadzana. Under POSA, public gatherings of more than five are prohibited. The MDC said its members were moving round in groups of three.
The opposition says that it is the victim of a state-orchestrated campaign of intimidation. It claims many of its members have been tortured, by police and supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
”Interestingly ZANU-PF women are similarly moving door-to-door (in Kuwadzana) taking down people’s names and identification numbers for reasons which have not yet been established, but none of them has been arrested,” the MDC complained in its statement Saturday.
At least four MDC lawmakers were picked up by police last month, and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is currently standing trial on charges of high treason.
He and two other top MDC officials on trial with him face the death penalty if convicted. The by-election in Kuwadzana, a low-income suburb to the west of
Harare, is scheduled for the last weekend in March. This month is likely to see a surge in political activity in the area.
The seat fell vacant last year after the death in custody of opposition lawmaker and former party spokesman Learnmore Jongwe. The popular young legislator was in prison awaiting trial for the murder of his wife. – Sapa-AFP