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Chamisa to drag police to court over anniversary ban
02 Oct 2018 at 15:41hrs | Views
The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance is planning to drag the police to court over the continued ban of its 18th anniversary celebration at a time Zanu-PF is being given unbridled permission to hold its meetings.
This comes after the police last week proscribed the MDC anniversary celebration for the second time, claiming the ban on public gatherings occasioned by the cholera outbreak still subsists.
Curiously, said the MDC, Zanu-PF held a number of inter-district meetings across the country this weekend despite the purported police ban.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Jacob Mafume said they are left with no option but to approach the courts to fight the selective application of the ban.
Earlier, the police had given the MDC the green light to hold its rally but made a volte-face after realising that it may provide a fertile ground for the spread of the highly-infectious disease.
"We are going to court against the police on the issue of our anniversary celebrations.
"Zanu-PF and the police are taking advantage of the tragic situation to deny people's rights.
"The cholera disaster is being abused by the police and Zanu-PF.
"They are denying us to hold our anniversary (celebrations) while Zanu-PF had a rally in Harare over the weekend.
"We are going to meet with the organisation department and plan on how we can take our case to court because there is unfair treatment from the police."
Last month, the main opposition alliance called off plans to hold a mock inauguration to name its leader Chamisa as the country's president after public gatherings were banned due to a cholera outbreak.
The MDC Alliance had planned to hold the mock inauguration alongside its anniversary event to highlight its claims that Chamisa — and not President Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling Zanu-PF party — was the rightful winner of the hard fought July 30 presidential election.
This came after Chamisa had filed a petition at the Constitutional Court claiming that he had won the presidential election by 60 percent, while stating mathematical inconsistencies which he said if corrected would have reduced Mnangagwa's tally to below 50 percent.
Despite the court dismissing his application with costs, Chamisa still insists that the ballot was rigged.
Government had threatened that Chamisa would be arrested if he proceeded to swear himself in as president during the 19th anniversary celebrations.
This comes after the police last week proscribed the MDC anniversary celebration for the second time, claiming the ban on public gatherings occasioned by the cholera outbreak still subsists.
Curiously, said the MDC, Zanu-PF held a number of inter-district meetings across the country this weekend despite the purported police ban.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Jacob Mafume said they are left with no option but to approach the courts to fight the selective application of the ban.
Earlier, the police had given the MDC the green light to hold its rally but made a volte-face after realising that it may provide a fertile ground for the spread of the highly-infectious disease.
"We are going to court against the police on the issue of our anniversary celebrations.
"Zanu-PF and the police are taking advantage of the tragic situation to deny people's rights.
"The cholera disaster is being abused by the police and Zanu-PF.
"They are denying us to hold our anniversary (celebrations) while Zanu-PF had a rally in Harare over the weekend.
"We are going to meet with the organisation department and plan on how we can take our case to court because there is unfair treatment from the police."
Last month, the main opposition alliance called off plans to hold a mock inauguration to name its leader Chamisa as the country's president after public gatherings were banned due to a cholera outbreak.
The MDC Alliance had planned to hold the mock inauguration alongside its anniversary event to highlight its claims that Chamisa — and not President Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling Zanu-PF party — was the rightful winner of the hard fought July 30 presidential election.
This came after Chamisa had filed a petition at the Constitutional Court claiming that he had won the presidential election by 60 percent, while stating mathematical inconsistencies which he said if corrected would have reduced Mnangagwa's tally to below 50 percent.
Despite the court dismissing his application with costs, Chamisa still insists that the ballot was rigged.
Government had threatened that Chamisa would be arrested if he proceeded to swear himself in as president during the 19th anniversary celebrations.
Source - dailynews
