President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has upped its crackdown against dissent amid fears of anti-government protests to coincide with the Sadc summit to be held in Harare next month.
On July 3, police in Gokwe arrested six people affiliated to Community Voices Zimbabwe, who included a councillor for holding a meeting at a lodge. The six were later released without any charges being laid against them.
Several people have also been arrested in Harare for allegedly holding unsanctioned meetings.
Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim administrator Jameson Timba and 77 other party members are battling to get their freedom after they were arrested on June 16 for gathering to celebrate the Day of the African Child at a private residency.
On Friday, opposition leaders Jacob Ngarivhume and Job Sikhala warned that protests were inevitatable due to Zimbabwe’s deteriorating human rights situation and economic problems.
Mnangagwa has also of late been issuing warnings against those planning protests, saying they would be crushed.
It has also emerged that the police have been rounding up people living on the streets of Harare as part of a strategy to thwart protests.
Police spokesperson commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the clampdown against people living on the streets, which he said was part of a wider clean-up Harare operation to maintain law and order in the city.
“We have Operation Clean-Up Harare and this operation is looking at maintaining law and order in Harare central business district (CBD) and its vicinity and we are looking at the issue of traffic congestion and pirate taxis,” Nyathi told The Standard.
“We are also looking at any form of lawlessness and criminal acts.
“So the operation is targeting everything against the law.
“We are not targeting specific individual people or groups, but we are targeting acts of lawlessness.”
A government official who spoke to The Standard on condition of anonymity said the clampdown was “necessary” as the country was preparing for a “crucial Sadc event”.
“The Sadc event is a very crucial event in the politics of Zimbabwe under President Mnangagwa’s leadership and there is no room for mistakes,” the official said.
“The street kids should be reprimanded and warned. The president has issued a warning that there should not be a mistake.”
Rights defenders under the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association condemned the raids on homeless people.
ZimRights donated blankets and food to some of the arrested street kids last Thursday.
“The situation is heartbreaking,” ZimRights said.
“We learnt that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have a habit of rounding up these homeless people, arresting them, and detaining them under some old legislation called the Vagrancy Act.”
Promise Mkwananzi, the spokesperson of the CCC faction linked to Nelson Chamisa, said Zimbabweans had a right to hold peaceful protests.
“Our position is very clear; in our view Sadc should not have come to Zimbabwe in the first place because they themselves produced a damning report on the electoral process in the county,” Mkwananzi said.
“It would be ironic that the government denies citizens their right to peaceful protests in the presence of Sadc.”
Centre for Natural Resource Governance director Farai Maguwu said Zimbabwe had serious internal issues, which needed to be discussed at the Sadc summit.
“l think it is clear to everyone that there are some serious internal issues in Zimbabwe which have been lingering for more than two decades, most of the people are leaving Zimbabwe because of social and economic crises,” Maguwu said.
“So it is important for Sadc to ensure that there is political stability in the country and the government is there to save the people, they talk to seek to move the country forward and that will be a great achievement.”
