Zimbabwe’s opposition movement vowed on Monday to continue with its drive to topple veteran President Robert Mugabe despite the arrest of its top leaders and the use of deadly force to crush a mass rally.
The Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of groups that organised Sunday’s thwarted anti-government protest, insisted they would not be cowed by the crackdown which saw chief opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai arrested and allegedly badly beaten by Mugabe’s security forces.
”We are not going to stop, we do believe that we have a legitimate right to demand democratic change and an end to this tyranny,” Save Zimbabwe Campaign spokesperson Jacob Mafume told reporters at a press conference.
”The events of yesterday [Sunday] vindicate that our cause is just and legitimate … Our just, legitimate and peaceful struggle will not cease until a new, free, prosperous and democratic dispensation unfolds in Zimbabwe,” he added.
The campaign joined earlier calls by supporters of Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the United States government for the release of the dozens of opposition leaders and activists who were rounded up on Sunday.
The MDC leader was only on Monday allowed access to his lawyer, Innocent Chagonda, who reported back that his client had been badly beaten.
”The information we have from his lawyer who visited him this morning is that he was brutally assaulted and [his face] was heavily swollen and is in bandages,” said MDC spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka.
”He was taken to hospital for urgent medical treatment but he is now back in the cells.”
Apart from Tsvangirai, a host of other senior opposition figures were detained in police sweeps on Sunday, including four MDC lawmakers and Lovemore Madhuku, head of the National Constitutional Assembly.
The arrests came amid a police crackdown on the demonstration which was to have taken place in the township of Highfields, a traditional hotbed of opposition to Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party.
The Save Zimbabwe Campaign — a coalition of rights groups, opposition and church activists — had billed the gathering as a prayer meeting in a bid to circumvent a recent ban on political rallies.
However the police cordoned off the area and rounded up activists who tried to make it to the sports ground where the rally was to have been held.
National police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzujena said Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller MDC faction, were arrested as they were ”going around inciting people to come and indulge in violent activities”.
Bvudzujena also confirmed police had shot dead an MDC activist.
He said the man had ignored warning shots as he threatened a group of officers at a shopping mall in Highfields.
In Washington, State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack condemned ”the brutal and unwarranted actions of the government” against people who it said were trying to peacefully ”exercise their legitimate democratic rights”.
The fatal shooting and arrests have further enraged opponents of Mugabe who voiced ambitions in a weekend interview for another term of office.
The next presidential elections are currently scheduled to take place in 2008 but the 83-year-old Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, would only stand again if chosen as Zanu-PF’s candidate.
While he was given provisional approval in December to extend his presidency until 2010, ostensibly to coincide with parliamentary polls, such a move still needs the backing of the party’s powerful central committee.
The Mugabe years
1960 Robert Mugabe, a schoolteacher, becomes active in the African nationalist movement protesting against the white minority Rhodesian government
1963 Part of a group that founds the Zimbabwe African National Union
1964 Jailed with other nationalists by the Smith regime. In prison for 10 years
1975 Secretly crosses to Mozambique where he leads Zanu’s armed struggle
1979 Participates in Lancaster House talks in London leading to new constitution and election
1980 Wins election and forms government as Zimbabwe’s first prime minister
1983 Sends army to stop rebellion in Matabeleland. Campaign blamed for death of 20 000 civilians.
2000 Loses referendum for constitution that would have increased his powers. Orders seizures of white-owned farms Zanu-PF narrowly wins elections condemned as marked by violence and rigging.
2002 Defeats Morgan Tsvangirai to be re-elected president for six-year term. EU and Commonwealth dismiss election as fraudulent – Guardian Unlimited Â
