News / National
'Mphoko' demonstrator arrested again at hotel
26 Jun 2016 at 17:20hrs | Views
Stendrick Zvorwadza, who on Friday 24th June, 2016 led a peaceful demonstration by human rights activists under the banners of ROHR Zimbabwe, NAVUZ and TAJAMUKA at the Rainbow Towers, the Harare 5 star hotel, where one of Zimbabwe's two Vice Presidents, Phelekezela Mphoko has stayed since December 2014 again visited the same venue today, demanding that Mphoko should leave the hotel accommodation.
Stendrick Zvorwadza persisted with his demands until he was arrested by officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and taken away to Harare Central Police Station where he continues to be detained since morning.
He is being charged with threatening to burn down Rainbow Towers if Vice President Mphoko remains in that hotel, utterances he never made, going by eyewitness accounts and a video recorded at the scene, today.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police is notorious for being partisan and for using violence and torture when dealing with demonstrators. It is also notorious for laying trumped up charges against dissenting citizens as a deterrent and to justify the detention of such individuals, usually for protracted periods of time, only to drop the charges before they evolve into a trial in the law courts.
Phelekezela Mphoko's continued stay at the Rainbow Towers has cost the Zimbabwean Taxpayers in excess of $250 000.00 as at today. This has riled the Zimbabwean people and has been condemned by civic society and opposition politicians. Phelekezela Mphoko has so far spurned three offers to be accommodated in high value properties sponsored by the Zimbabwean Government.
One of the houses Phelekezela Mphoko refused to move into is the one left by the late vice president Joseph Msika in Harare's leafy suburb of Mandara. The second one is a mansion worth $3m in Ballantyne Park, an affluent suburb of Harare. The third one is a $3.5m acquired in December last year by the Government of Zimbabwe in The Grange, another leafy suburb of Harare.
In all the three known instances where the Mphokos have rejected the offers of accommodation, Mphoko's wife, Laurinda, is said to have condemned the properties as substandard relative to the Vice President's stature.
More to follow...
Stendrick Zvorwadza persisted with his demands until he was arrested by officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and taken away to Harare Central Police Station where he continues to be detained since morning.
He is being charged with threatening to burn down Rainbow Towers if Vice President Mphoko remains in that hotel, utterances he never made, going by eyewitness accounts and a video recorded at the scene, today.
Phelekezela Mphoko's continued stay at the Rainbow Towers has cost the Zimbabwean Taxpayers in excess of $250 000.00 as at today. This has riled the Zimbabwean people and has been condemned by civic society and opposition politicians. Phelekezela Mphoko has so far spurned three offers to be accommodated in high value properties sponsored by the Zimbabwean Government.
One of the houses Phelekezela Mphoko refused to move into is the one left by the late vice president Joseph Msika in Harare's leafy suburb of Mandara. The second one is a mansion worth $3m in Ballantyne Park, an affluent suburb of Harare. The third one is a $3.5m acquired in December last year by the Government of Zimbabwe in The Grange, another leafy suburb of Harare.
In all the three known instances where the Mphokos have rejected the offers of accommodation, Mphoko's wife, Laurinda, is said to have condemned the properties as substandard relative to the Vice President's stature.
More to follow...
Source - Mandulo Pasichigare
