This Vile Régime
Govt intensifies crackdown against dissent

7th March 2003

The clampdown on dissent has intensified over the past two weeks with growing evidence of police brutality - further denting claims by Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo that the situation in Zimbabwe has improved.

Some of the worst cases of brutality followed a World Cup cricket match in Bulawayo last Friday.

Nigerian leader Obasanjo came to Zimbabwe on February 8 on a one-day visit from South Africa. Following his visit over 280 people have been arrested under the draconian Public Order and Security Act (Posa).

Mbeki told the SABC that his government had a commitment from the Zimbabwean leadership that repression would stop. But there has been an increase in police violence since then.

On February 13, a meeting organised by the Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference at Northside Community Church in Borrowdale was brutally broken up by the police.

The police assaulted prominent academic and civic leader, Dr John Makumbe. They briefly detained human rights lawyer Brian Kagoro, Bishop Trevor Manhanga and an American diplomat.

On February 14 police arrested 73 people, mainly women, who were marching for peace. Those who were detained included seven journalists who were covering the event and a clergyman whose camera was confiscated after video-taping the demonstration.

In another potentially embarrassing case, the vice-president of the Bulawayo Queens Sports Club and an accredited member of the International Cricket Council, Paul Dietrechsen, was arrested and assaulted after the cricket World Cup match between Zimbabwe and Holland. Dietrechsen and another member of the Bulawayo Queens Club, George Robert Parkin, had gone to the police post at the grounds to inquire about a club member, Monty Jenkinson, who had been arrested for allegedly verbally abusing a youth who had entered an area of the club reserved for members.

"After the match the young man returned with five policemen who arrested Jenkinson," said Parkin in a statement.

"As we got there Jenkinson was pushed into the police post building. A senior police member in uniform with a faulty right eye then punched Jenkinson in the mouth and about the head with a clenched fist," Parkin said. There were up to eight officers present he said.

"At that stage Paul Dietrechsen walked in. He was wearing his official ICC badge. He had to push his way through the policemen and wanted to know what was going on."

As Dietrechsen tried to make his way out he was assaulted, Parkin said. Then a plain clothes officer arrived, Parkin said.

"I saw him grab a long rubber riot baton from one of the uniformed officers and start assaulting Dietrechsen with the baton."

Parkin said he shouted for the officer to stop and threw himself in the way. Dietrechsen is 65 years old. Parkin claims the plain clothes officer then started beating him.

All three - Jenkinson, Dietrechsen and Parkin - were then forcibly pushed to the ground and assaulted, Parkin said.

He claims the plain clothes officer shouted racist abuse at them asking: "Do you know me, do you know me?"

"I do not know how many times I was assaulted - but many many blows," Parkin said. "This was also happening to Dietrechsen and Jenkinson."

They were then taken to Bulawayo Central and later to Queens Park where they were detained.

"We were not allowed access to any legal advice, or to see our family members, or to make any phone calls," Parkin said. He and Dietrechsen were charged under Posa for attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

At the same match 41 cricket supporters were detained by the police for four days after a peaceful demonstration. They were all released by the courts.

On February 28 the police arrested 23 clergymen who were protesting against the excessive use of force by the police. Twenty-eight cricket supporters were arrested on Tuesday for demonstrating at the Queens Sports Club where the match against Pakistan was being played.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has also suffered from the latest wave of arrests and assaults.

At least 26 MDC supporters on their way to a rally in Hatcliffe were arrested on Sunday along Chancellor Avenue. The MDC said its supporters were detained and assaulted in State House grounds for wearing MDC T-shirts.

Nelson Chamisa, the MDC candidate for Kuwadzana, his campaign manager Charlton Hwende, and over 50 supporters were arrested for campaigning.

In the high-density suburb of Mufakose a further 70 MDC supporters were arrested and 10 other suspected MDC supporters were picked from their homes in Mufakose in the early hours of Monday morning. This was after an MDC rally sanctioned by the police.

MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said the arrests exposed the government's hypocrisy. About 50 of the 70 were released on Tuesday night.

"The arrests are further evidence that the Mugabe regime does not tolerate political pluralism in the country, and is willing to continually suppress opposing views, contrary to the efforts by the regime to hoodwink the international community into believing that the country is returning to law and order," said Nyathi.

"We reiterate our position that the ZRP has become a willing tool in Zanu PF's effort to suppress basic human rights in Zimbabwe," said Nyathi.

The Speaker of the Swedish parliament, Bjorn von Sydow, has reacted strongly to reports of arrests and state-sanctioned violence in Zimbabwe.

"I want to convey the Swedish paliament's vehement protests against these violations of the human rights of MPs and members of the opposition," he said.

"The Zimbabwe government must put an immediate stop to the tide of violence and torture that has swept across the country," Von Sydow said.

Blessing Zulu - Zimbabwe Independent