Chamisa chickens out on vows to defy rally ban

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa and his party weekend went back on their vows to proceed with their banned ‘thank you' rally which was set for Mbizo in Kwekwe on Sunday.

Police last week banned the gathering citing a typhoid scare in Gweru.

The Alliance however vowed to proceed insisting police had been informed of the planned gathering as was required by the country's security laws.

A defiant MDC national organising secretary Amos Chibaya Saturday told NewZimbabwe.com late Saturday the rally was going to proceed.

An immediate attempt to seek recourse with the courts failed as the hearing for the matter was set down for 2pm this Monday, eliciting angry comments from the MDC legislator who accused the local courts of being "captured".

Even after the court decision, the MDC insisted the rally was going ahead.

However, on Sunday, the Alliance backtracked from its defiant stance, choosing to wait for the courts' decision instead.

Chibaya confirmed the climbdown, saying Chamisa, sitting in consultation with party leadership, had resolved to allow the matter to be determined by the courts instead of raising political tensions by defying the police ban.

"Our leadership weighed the benefits of having running battles with the police, getting our supporters shot at or arrested and that of allowing the courts to determine our application. We then decided to give the courts a chance to arbitrate so we called off the rally," Chibaya said.

MDC Alliance lawyers approached the Bulawayo High Court on Friday with an urgent chamber application to have the police ban overturned, which will now be heard today.

"We approached the courts seeking to have the ban overturned, but we could not get a judge on Friday at the Bulawayo High Court. We were told they were unreachable on their phones," he said.

"Our lawyers then managed to talk to High Court judge Martin Makonese, who set down the matter for Monday (today). Now this matter is being heard a day after the rally was supposed to be held. This shows you the courts are captured, they are in it."

Chibaya said there was deep-seated fear in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's regime that allowing Chamisa to address rallies could trigger a revolution by the new generation, which strongly feels robbed by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission after the Constitutional Court ruling.

"We understand that fear and they want to contain our president, but it's not about him, it's about the people, the nation and the future. As a leader, he takes direction from his supporters and not the other way round. He has, however, pleaded with supporters to wait a little longer for the rally," Chibaya, who was in Mbizo dismissing party supporters who had gathered for the rally, said.