Timba, his son, and 78 others were arrested and charged
with gathering with intent to cause public harm and disorderly conduct when
they had gathered to commemorate the Day of the African Child, celebrated on
June 16.
Lawyers for the 80 arrested claimed that several members
need medical treatment as they were brutalized while in custody after police
said their meeting was not sanctioned.
Some of the CCC supporters were seen struggling to walk in
a video as they made their way to court on Tuesday in Harare.
“June 16 is the Day of the African Child, a commemoration
that had nothing to do with rising against the government. It was just a
commemoration of the events that took place during apartheid in South Africa,
and the day has long been commemorated,” said CCC Bulawayo Spokesperson
Swithern Chirowodza, who noted that their counterparts in Harare were not
demonstrating.
Chirowodza said the opposition party had not met to
demonstrate but to celebrate the day, adding that in Bulawayo, police had
blocked their June 16 commemorations.
“It’s not like people were rising up against the government
or were conspiring or demonstrating against the government. There was none of
that. Jameson Timba had just provided a venue for the commemorations in Harare,
and his son is not part of these events,” he said.
According to the CCC activist, it is “shocking” how the
police came down heavily on people who were not planning anything sinister.
“People would expect the way the police came down heavily
on the people who attended the commemoration to be the sort of action that
police would mete out against criminals,” Chirowodza said.
“You find that in our homes, thieves steal copper cables,
thugs roam about, especially at night, but don’t get that security cover.”
Chirowodza claimed when police descended on their party
members at the Harare event, they subjected them to humiliation.
“The police thought it was actually good to humiliate the
people who had come by beating them, making them kneel, walk on their knees,
and actually arresting them,” said the activist.
“Attending events is something that should be a right in
terms of our constitution. It gives the right to demonstrate, but this wasn’t a
demonstration, it was a commemoration. It punctuates Zimbabwe as the poster
child of a police state and a dictatorship mainly because of actions of
[President Emmerson] Mnangagwa and his government.”
The CCC activist said it was unfortunate how police
allocate more resources to oversee members of the opposition as opposed to
crime, claiming this can be proven.
“These 80 who were detained are people who are
commemorating a particular event. If you were to tell police today that Nelson
Chamisa is coming to Bulawayo, you would get an oversubscribed number of police
coming to the event. But if you report a crime in progress, the police would be
conspicuous by their absence,” he claimed.
A former presidential contender and now opposition
politician, Saviour Kasukuwere, also criticized the police actions towards the
80.
“Hatred, brutality, and cruelty define us today! Shame on
you! Is this really necessary to treat fellow countrymen like this? Aiwa
vakomana handizvo (It is not right),” he said.
Iphithule Maphosa, spokesperson of the Congress for
Transformation opposition party, also weighed in, saying it was regrettable
that incidents of police brutality against members of the opposition continued
unabated.
“I have seen the videos of the CCC members, and it is sad
to watch. It is worrying how cases of police brutality against members of the
opposition continue even when a threat is not posed,” he said. CITE
Abdullah Amir 
Mutota III 
