News / Regional
Fear as soldiers are deployed to Tsholotsho
13 Apr 2011 at 04:21hrs | Views
Villagers in Tsholotsho district, Matabeleland North province, said they are living in fear following the deployment of soldiers and militia members there recently. Locals believe the deployment has been carried out for electoral purposes.
Relief worker and Tsholotsho resident Zenzo Ndawana said weekend deployments left local villagers apprehensive as the forces remind them of the Fifth Brigabe implicated in the killing of thousands in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.
The so-called Gukurahundi purge began as a conflict between two liberation factions but led to massacres of civilians. A church study estimated 20,000 people died.
VOA was unable to obtain an explanation from Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa or senior armed forces officials. Ndawana said villagers want the government to order the withdrawal of the soldiers and militia members from Tsholotsho.
Elsewhere, police late Monday released 12 of 13 people detained Saturday at a prayer meeting in Harare and charged with public violence. But sources said police continued to hold Shakespeare Mukoyi, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Morgan Tsvangirai on charges of assaulting a police officer.
Police detained four pastors and nine others in the raid on a church in the Glen Norah section of Harare where the meeting was called to pray for peace in Zimbabwe.
Lawyer Marufu Mandevere, representing the 13, said some of those released, including two pastors, were severely beaten while in detention. Sources said Mukoyi, who was expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, was in serious condition.
The Christian Alliance, which organized the prayer meeting, said it intends to meet with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri this week to lodge a complaint about the police disruption of the meeting and the alleged mistreatment of those detained.
The group said it will also file a report with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, set up to gauge compliance with the Global Political Agreement.
Christian Alliance Organizing Secretary Bishop Ancelimo Magaya said the organization regretfully noted the partisan and selective application of the law by police.
Relief worker and Tsholotsho resident Zenzo Ndawana said weekend deployments left local villagers apprehensive as the forces remind them of the Fifth Brigabe implicated in the killing of thousands in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.
The so-called Gukurahundi purge began as a conflict between two liberation factions but led to massacres of civilians. A church study estimated 20,000 people died.
VOA was unable to obtain an explanation from Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa or senior armed forces officials. Ndawana said villagers want the government to order the withdrawal of the soldiers and militia members from Tsholotsho.
Elsewhere, police late Monday released 12 of 13 people detained Saturday at a prayer meeting in Harare and charged with public violence. But sources said police continued to hold Shakespeare Mukoyi, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Morgan Tsvangirai on charges of assaulting a police officer.
Lawyer Marufu Mandevere, representing the 13, said some of those released, including two pastors, were severely beaten while in detention. Sources said Mukoyi, who was expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, was in serious condition.
The Christian Alliance, which organized the prayer meeting, said it intends to meet with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri this week to lodge a complaint about the police disruption of the meeting and the alleged mistreatment of those detained.
The group said it will also file a report with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, set up to gauge compliance with the Global Political Agreement.
Christian Alliance Organizing Secretary Bishop Ancelimo Magaya said the organization regretfully noted the partisan and selective application of the law by police.
Source - Byo24News
