The state has opposed Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s bail application, as he readies to spend an eighth night in jail on Friday, but his continued detention without trial on treason charges has drawn no reaction from ordinary Zimbabweans, who live in fear of arrest and repression by the security forces.
Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was arrested on June 6, the last day of week-long nationwide protests called for by the opposition against the government of President Robert Mugabe. The state on Thursday refused his application for bail.
The MDC blames the government for the severe economic and social hardships gripping the country, including food, fuel and money shortages.
Last week’s protests took the form of work stoppages, which brought many Zimbabwean cities to a halt, and were supposed to include peaceful marches ”for democracy”.
But the marches never go off the ground, as security forces turned out in force, and feared pro-government youth groups roamed the streets of the southern African country.
Hundreds of opposition supporters, activists and officials were arrested or assaulted by state agents during the week of mass action.
Tsvangirai was on Tuesday charged with treason as well as inciting public violence. He was accused of urging Zimbabweans to oust Mugabe and his government at rallies held before the week of protests.
The latest treason charges, which can carry the death penalty on conviction, are the second to be brought against Tsvangirai.
He is currently on trial with two other senior MDC officials charged with high treason for allegedly plotting to eliminate Mugabe ahead of the 2002 presidential elections, won by Mugabe.
The court that charged Tsvangirai on Tuesday also ordered that he remain in prison until July 10, but gave him leave to apply for bail.
He was held at Harare central police station for four days before being moved to the capital’s crowded, dilapidated jail.
Tsvangirai’s lawyers filed for bail before Harare High Court on Wednesday, but the application hearing went into its third day Friday, and the union leader turned opposition chief looked likely to spend a second weekend behind bars.
Meanwhile, there was no sign of protest on the part of opposition backers to show their anger at their leader’s arrest and continued detention.
But, says the MDC, opposition backers have been wise to hold back.
When Tsvangirai was arrested, the MDC accused the government of trying to provoke a popular outcry, which would then have been fanned until it became violent protests, giving the government the ideal excuse to ”ban and crush” the MDC.
As recently as Thursday, when Tsvangirai’s bail hearing was into its second day, the MDC urged its activists and sympathisers to ”remain calm in the face of open provocation”.
Memories are still fresh in the minds of Zimbabweans of the repressive measures taken to crush last week’s planned street marches.
At least one opposition supporter died, another was shot and injured while hundreds of others were arrested, often under violent circumstances.
Would-be protesters were dispersed by police firing teargas or charging them and beating them with the butts of their guns or batons. Students on the University of Harare campus were roughed up.
Adding to the misery endured last week by ordinary Zimbabweans are the obligatory long hours of waiting in line for even the most mundane of products.
Almost every native of this southern African country has for months had to queue for hours for food, petrol, a bus to go to work, and money from the bank, as Zimbabwe continues its downward spiral into unemployment ‒ 70% are out of work — and inflation climbs ever higher. It is now at nearly 300% per
annum.
A food crisis sparked by chaotic land reforms, which have seen farms seized from whites and redistributed to landless blacks, and a serious drought has left 5,5-million of the country’s 11,6-million people in need of food aid.
But the president has continually denied holding any responsibility for Zimbabwe’s multi-pronged crisis. Instead, Mugabe, who has ruled the country for 23 years, blames the country’s woes on the MDC and its foreign backers, notably
former colonial power Britain and the US, who have, he says, but one objective: to oust him and set up a pro-British government.
On Thursday, Mugabe threatened to expel the British ambassador to Harare, Brian Donnelly, accusing him of being behind last week’s anti-government protests. – Sapa-AFP