Mayor Elias Mudzuri, head of the opposition-controlled city council, was arrested for a second time in 24 hours onTuesday after he defied police orders to stay away from his mayoral office, his lawyer said.
Late on Tuesday, Mudzuri was freed and attended a meeting of opposition supporters northern Harare addressed by Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mudzuri received a standing ovation as he walked into the meeting at the suburban Mount Pleasant hall and vowed to continue defying government orders suspending him from his office.
Mudzuri — who was suspended by the government in April for alleged irregularities in running city affairs — has called the accusations against him a political ploy, and has challenged his suspension in the High Court.
Opposition officials say Mudzuri’s arrests are typical of what they say is increasing harassment of the opposition by President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian government.
Zimbabwe has plunged into political and economic chaos as Mugabe tries to stay in power. The county is suffering its worst crisis since independence in 1980, with record inflation and unemployment.
In the past three years, the government has seized thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to black settlers, crippling the country’s agriculture-based economy.
Mudzuri returned to work Monday, after a month away on vacation, only to be confronted by police. He was questioned for about 30 minutes and released without being charged.
”I will remain at work until the High Court makes its ruling,” Mudzuri told reporters afterward. ”(If the police) want me to work in the cells, I will do so.”
Mudzuri was detained for two days earlier this year for allegedly holding a political meeting declared illegal under stringent security laws.
Since the opposition overwhelmingly won control of the Harare city council in last year’s elections, the council has clashed repeatedly with the government over the city’s policies and finances.
Some city services, including garbage removal and fire and emergency services, have been cut back in the city, which relies on allocations of hard currency from the government to pay for water purification materials, machinery and spare parts.
Even flammable gases for the furnace at Zimbabwe main’s crematorium ran out last week, leaving at least 30 corpses awaiting cremation, said city council spokesman Cuthbert Rwazemba.
Some prisoners have had their detention in custody extended after the prisons department said it could not transport them for bail hearings. – Sapa-AP