MDC ALLIANCE vice-president Tendai Biti has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government of deliberately imprisoning opponents and critics in COVID-19-infested jails as a way of exterminating them through exposure to the deadly pandemic.
This came after MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere
has revealed that she tested positive to COVID-19.
The opposition activist, who is facing a charge of
communicating falsehoods, was locked up at Harare Remand Prison for seven days.
She believes she contracted COVID-19 during incarceration at Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison.
Mahere was on Monday released on $10 000 bail and went
straight to test for COVID-19, claiming that prison authorities were not
enforcing preventive measures in prisons.
On Wednesday, Biti tweeted that the government should take
full responsibility for Mahere’s COVID-19 status.
“The regime must take full responsibility of Mahere’s situation.
It must take full responsibility of every Zimbabwean who has succumbed to
COVID-19 misgovernance, cluelessness and recklessness are crimes against
humanity,” Biti said.
Upon her release, Mahere complained about deplorable
conditions in the holding cells at Harare Central Police Station where she
spent a night before she was taken to court.
The activist was jailed together with party deputy chairman
Job Sikhala and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who are still in custody.
The three face similar charges in a case involving a widely
circulated video linking a police officer to the murder of a baby while
enforcing COVID-19 lockdown rules at a Harare bus stop.
Similarly, Harare mayor and MDC Alliance official Jacob
Mafume was recently released from remand prison where he had been languishing
for nearly a month. He is accused of land deals, corruption and bribery, but he
denies both charges.
Mafume’s lawyers claim the city father was now in isolation
after two cellmates recently succumbed to the virus.
Student activist Allan Moyo has also been locked up at
Harare Remand Prison for more than 40 days, charged with inciting public
violence.
Biti said the targeting of party activists for arrest and
incarceration was all calculated to expose them to COVID-19 which continues to
take many lives.
“Zimbabwe prisons are imploding with COVID-19. Inmates were
exposed to conditions that were degrading, cruel and inhumane long before
COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has exacerbated a desperate situation. By
incarcerating activists, the regime is intent on eliminating activists and
every other inmate,” the Harare East lawmaker said.Newsday
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