Three Zimbabwean women activists were arrested while distributing pamphlets advertising a Women’s Day march in the second city of Bulawayo, a lawyer representing the three activists said on Monday.
Perpetua Dube said her clients — Patricia Kanye, Magondonga Mahlangu and Jenni Williams — were arrested on Sunday for distributing pamphlets to advertise the march marking International Women’s Day.
”They were kept in custody yesterday [Sunday] to prevent them making arrangements and organising the demonstration today,” Dube said by telephone from Bulawayo.
She said the pamphlet called on women to march in Bulawayo and the capital, Harare, to push for a new Constitution in the crisis-hit Southern African country.
The trio have not been charged, but police may invoke strict security laws against them for ”communicating false statements”, Dube said.
The three activists are members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza), which is active in the two main cities and whose activists are vocal critics of President Robert Mugabe’s government.
Part of the statement by Woza that landed the three activists in trouble said that ”the Constitution of Zimbabwe is being gang-raped”.
In Harare, about 100 women, some with babies strapped to their backs, marched peacefully on Monday, singing and waving placards and wearing distinctive white scarves.
One woman carried a placard thanking the Zimbabwean police ”for protecting women against abuse”. — Sapa-AFP