Police yesterday arrested a Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate in the August 2023 elections for allegedly participating in an anti-government demonstration five years ago as the clampdown against government opponents intensified.
Tineyi Munetsi, who was the CCC candidate in the disputed elections, was charged with contravening section 36 of the Criminal Code in a case described as bizarre by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
“In Zimbabwe, absurdity has plumbed new depths as authorities arrested Tineyi Munetsi, who contested in the 2023 parliamentary elections and charged him for allegedly participating in an anti-government protest held five years ago,” ZLHR said on X.
“Munetsi, who has been charged with contravening section 36 of the Criminal Code is accused of having participated in the January 2019 anti-government protests.”
Munetsi, who was a coordinator for the pressure group Tajamuka, was in July 2019 summoned to the Harare Central Police’s law and order division after the group called for a national shutdown to force President Emmerson Mnangagwa to resign.
Tajamuka had given Mnangagwa a seven-day ultimatum to fix the crippling financial crisis.
The government had announced an unpopular ban on the use of multi-currencies.
Police have been arresting opposition and civil society activists amid claims by Mnangagwa’s government that some Zimbabweans are planning to stage protests during the forthcoming Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit to be held in Harare on August 17 and 18.
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The crackdown began in June when 78 CCC activists, including the faction’s leader Jameson Timba, for celebrating the Day of the African Child.
Over 100 activists are now behind bars in Harare, Mutare and Kariba.
Meanwhile, Mary Lawlor, the a United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said she was disappointed by the arrests and apparent torture of four activists by Zimbabwean authorities.
Vusumuzi Moyo, Namatai Kwekweza, Samuel Gwenzi and Robson Chere were last Wednesday taken off a Victoria Falls bound flight at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and were held incommunicando for several hours.
The four, who were on Friday charged for allegedly taking part in a demonstration in June, were severely tortured while in custody, their lawyers said.
“From what I understand, they were taken off a flight, held incommunicado for a number of hours before being charged with disorderly conduct as a result of their participation in a peaceful protest calling for the release of opposition political figures," Lawlor told VOA.
"I unreservedly call for the immediate release of all four detained activists and an investigation into the allegations of maltreatment to which they were subjected to while in custody.”
