News / National
Police interrogate Magaya
04 Jan 2016 at 09:39hrs | Views
Paranoid Zimbabwean authorities interrogated outspoken preacher Ancelimo Magaya on why he was planning a convergence of political parties, churches and civil society, the Daily News on Sunday reported.
The bishop, who is the director of Zimbabwe Divine Destiny (ZDD), an organisation that has been working on unifying political parties in the country, said the Zimbabwe Republic Police questioned him for about half an hour after he had submitted a letter notifying the police of an all-people convention at City Sports Centre last month.
"They asked why I was organising that convergence. And to me it came out as if they were trying to undermine what we were doing and trying to cause fear, but I am not someone who would be rattled by that," Magaya told the Daily News on Sunday yesterday.
The meeting only went on after organisations approached the High Court seeking an order to lift a ban that had been imposed by the police who had banned and blocked people from entering the venue.
Magaya said according to his assessment of how he was questioned, it seemed the police wanted him to deny that he was the one leading the convergence.
"The police called me in and questioned me in relation to the submissions I had made to notify them of the convergence at City Sports Centre.
"They were questioning me as the director of Zimbabwe Devine Destiny, which is organising the convergence of civil society, political parties and churches," said Magaya.
"And it seemed they wanted me to give up or denounce that I was the one who was organising and name someone else."
The preacher has also been vocal in demanding that the authorities provide information on the whereabouts of missing human rights activist Itai Dzamara. In recent statements, Magaya has lamented the way churches and civil society had taken a back seat while Zimbabwe continued to burn.
He said it was important for the church to rise and publicly and openly denounce injustices and irregularities that were happening in the country as civil society has lost its mandate while castigating civil society for being swamped by intra-organisation squabbles.
"The church should make an open declaration in condemning what has happened, so clearly the way we find it written in the word of God.
"Zimbabwe cannot be transformed by one entity, or one organisation or one political party.
"I believe very strongly that we need to have mutual deference, one unto another. You should find opportunities for synergies," he said recently while speaking at a Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy (Yard) meeting in Harare.
The bishop, who is the director of Zimbabwe Divine Destiny (ZDD), an organisation that has been working on unifying political parties in the country, said the Zimbabwe Republic Police questioned him for about half an hour after he had submitted a letter notifying the police of an all-people convention at City Sports Centre last month.
"They asked why I was organising that convergence. And to me it came out as if they were trying to undermine what we were doing and trying to cause fear, but I am not someone who would be rattled by that," Magaya told the Daily News on Sunday yesterday.
The meeting only went on after organisations approached the High Court seeking an order to lift a ban that had been imposed by the police who had banned and blocked people from entering the venue.
Magaya said according to his assessment of how he was questioned, it seemed the police wanted him to deny that he was the one leading the convergence.
"The police called me in and questioned me in relation to the submissions I had made to notify them of the convergence at City Sports Centre.
"And it seemed they wanted me to give up or denounce that I was the one who was organising and name someone else."
The preacher has also been vocal in demanding that the authorities provide information on the whereabouts of missing human rights activist Itai Dzamara. In recent statements, Magaya has lamented the way churches and civil society had taken a back seat while Zimbabwe continued to burn.
He said it was important for the church to rise and publicly and openly denounce injustices and irregularities that were happening in the country as civil society has lost its mandate while castigating civil society for being swamped by intra-organisation squabbles.
"The church should make an open declaration in condemning what has happened, so clearly the way we find it written in the word of God.
"Zimbabwe cannot be transformed by one entity, or one organisation or one political party.
"I believe very strongly that we need to have mutual deference, one unto another. You should find opportunities for synergies," he said recently while speaking at a Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy (Yard) meeting in Harare.
Source - dailynews
