THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has sanctioned but imposed stringent conditions for the opposition MDC’s 20th anniversary celebrations scheduled for September 14 at Rufaro Stadium, Harare.
In a letter to the party, the police threatened to halt the gathering should the opposition fail to stick to the set conditions.
“No toy-toying and no sloganeering should be allowed to and from the venue, no procession or march or disturbance of peace or vandalism of property within the precincts of the venue, strict adherence to time frame,” read part of the letter dated September 3 to MDC organising secretary Amos Chibaya.
“You are expected to cooperate with the police and other government agents. The provisions of section 29 of the Public Security Act, Chapter 11:17 will be effected if any of the conditions stated above is violated.”
Not surprisingly, the MDC has fired a broadside at the tough conditions.
The party’s secretary general, Chalton Hwende, told the Daily News on Sunday that the tough security rules and regulations were unconstitutional and were crafted to frustrate the opposition party’s activities.
“We notified the police of our intention to hold our anniversary celebrations as the Constitution stipulates and in response to our notification, the police have set strict conditions that are clearly unconstitutional. How can we celebrate our anniversary without sloganeering?” asked Hwende.
He added that the MDC would not allow the police to spoil the party’s two decades of existence.
“We are just going to proceed with the anniversary celebrations and ignore some of the unconstitutional stipulations set by the police,” Hwende declared.
Permission for the MDC to hold the 20th anniversary celebrations was granted a month after the ZRP issued a prohibition order against demonstrations planned by the Nelson Chamisa-led party.
The police claimed at the time that they had concrete evidence that the MDC-Alliance had plans to hold violent demonstrations and further claimed that the party had smuggled into Harare an assortment of weapons.
Police also said banned political satire plays on stage written and directed by popular film television and documentary writer and director, Dale Batsirai Kapfumo.
Kapfumo’s comical plays have been perceived to be a mockery of Zanu PF presidium, governance and rule. He has suffered persecution from the government and its agents and has been threatened with arrest on a number of occasions.
Against this background, the MDC had to call off the demonstrations after the High Court upheld a police order banning the protests.
Scores of MDC supporters who had grouped in Harare for the protests were beaten with batons, while tear gas was also used to disperse them, in scenes reminiscent of the late former president Robert Mugabe’s regime that was notorious for clamping down on opposing voices.
Last week, the Daily News reported that Chamisa recently wrote to police commissioner Godwin Matanga demanding answers on the recent spate of abductions and beatings of his supporters.
In the same letter, he demanded that the police furnish him with identity details of police officers who violently beat up his supporters in mid-August.