News / National
Police put Khumalo on 'curfew'
13 Jul 2016 at 09:58hrs | Views
BULAWAYO East MP Thabitha Khumalo was yesterday summoned to Bulawayo Central Police Station in the morning and quizzed over driving a vehicle without number plates, which they suspected was being used by the MP to co-ordinate anti-government protests on behalf of pressure group Tajamuka/Sesijikile.
Khumalo yesterday told NewsDay that she was interrogated and afterwards ordered to stay indoors today and stop driving around Bulawayo in her unmarked car, as she was being suspected of co-ordinating the stayaways.
Earlier, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) provided a lawyer to represent Khumalo when she reported to the police.
"In Bulawayo, ZLHR lawyers accompanied Khumalo to Bulawayo Central Police Station after she was summoned by the police around 9.30am today. Police questioned her over her involvement with the planned protests, and after exercising her right to remain silent, Khumalo was released before noon," ZLHR said in a statement.
"I did not go there because I was in the UK, but surprisingly, yesterday the same police officers summoned me and I went there with a ZLHR lawyer, Lizwe Jamela. He was, however, chased away and they interrogated me alone.
"They asked me why I was driving a car without number plates, and I said I had been doing that for the past 10 years and I was surprised that it became an issue now. They said I was one of the organisers of tomorrow (today's) protests, adding I was the co-ordinator of Tajamuka/Sesijikile.
"The police then put me on a curfew and ordered that tomorrow (today) I should stay at my premises and must not be seen anywhere driving my car without number plates. They did not charge me with anything, but they placed me on a curfew," she said.
The MP said she felt intimidated, as she was a legislator doing her duties and had nothing to do with organising the protests.
Source - Southern Eye
