News / Local
Mnangagwa, ZPCS given ultimatum to reverse prison transfers of jailed Mthwakazi activists
02 Sep 2022 at 20:03hrs | Views
MTHWAKAZI Republic Party (MRP) has given President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) a four-day ultimatum to reverse the transfer of its party activists from Khami Maximum Prison to Chikurubi in Harare, and Gwanda Prison.
This week, ZPCS transferred the MRP activists from Khami to the notorious Chikurubi and Gwanda prisons under unclear circumstances.
Seven members of the party are serving 33 months in prison, while the other two were incarcerated for 36 months following their conviction in June this year by a Bulawayo magistrate.
The nine activists were convicted of public violence after they stormed Bulawayo Central Police station protesting over the foiled abduction of their party leader Mqondisi Moyo by state security agents last year.
Addressing journalists at Bulawayo Media Centre Thursday, the party's national youth vice chairperson, Chilumbo Mudenda maintained the charges against the incarcerated activists were politically trumped up.
"MRP wish to put it with clarity, authority and conviction that the systematic and political mechanisms of Emmerson Mnangagwa of taking political prisoners from Matebeleland to Harare to kill them is unbecoming, barbaric and unheard of and shall be resisted with equal measure," he said.
"We are giving Mnangagwa and his cronies an ultimatum of a four day from today (Thursday) to provide a credible and constitutional justice to our members without failure.
"If they are not prepared to concede to our demands, as MRP family we are prepared to die for our independence, freedom and justice and from day one, we will gather at Bulawayo High Court day in and day out demanding for the
release of our innocent members," he added.
Mudenda likened the incarceration of the activists to that of the detention of former ZIPRA commander, Lookout Masuku, who was arrested on allegations of plotting a coup against the government.
Masuku died in detention.
"History serves a purpose of informing the present of the past in order to avert a distorted future .It is within the context of the Mthwakazi history that our liberation icon commander Lookout Masuku was taken to Chikurubi Maximum Prison where he lived a torturous life, which led to his death through politically trumped up charges," said Mudenda.
This week, ZPCS transferred the MRP activists from Khami to the notorious Chikurubi and Gwanda prisons under unclear circumstances.
Seven members of the party are serving 33 months in prison, while the other two were incarcerated for 36 months following their conviction in June this year by a Bulawayo magistrate.
The nine activists were convicted of public violence after they stormed Bulawayo Central Police station protesting over the foiled abduction of their party leader Mqondisi Moyo by state security agents last year.
Addressing journalists at Bulawayo Media Centre Thursday, the party's national youth vice chairperson, Chilumbo Mudenda maintained the charges against the incarcerated activists were politically trumped up.
"MRP wish to put it with clarity, authority and conviction that the systematic and political mechanisms of Emmerson Mnangagwa of taking political prisoners from Matebeleland to Harare to kill them is unbecoming, barbaric and unheard of and shall be resisted with equal measure," he said.
"If they are not prepared to concede to our demands, as MRP family we are prepared to die for our independence, freedom and justice and from day one, we will gather at Bulawayo High Court day in and day out demanding for the
release of our innocent members," he added.
Mudenda likened the incarceration of the activists to that of the detention of former ZIPRA commander, Lookout Masuku, who was arrested on allegations of plotting a coup against the government.
Masuku died in detention.
"History serves a purpose of informing the present of the past in order to avert a distorted future .It is within the context of the Mthwakazi history that our liberation icon commander Lookout Masuku was taken to Chikurubi Maximum Prison where he lived a torturous life, which led to his death through politically trumped up charges," said Mudenda.
Source - NewZimbabwe
