HARARE – The Zimbabwe government’s crackdown on critics ahead of Saturday’s SADC summit showed no signs of abetting as more than a dozen activists were detained on Thursday and Friday, lawyers said. The United Nations human rights commissioner has urged authorities to free the pro-democracy advocates, who now number more than a hundred in the country’s jails. On Thursday night, armed men raided the home of former Budiriro MP Costa Machingauta in Harare and seized him after assaulting his young children.
He was held incommunicado for several hours before lawyers located him at Harare Central Police Station. He is accused of public violence, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. In Gokwe, police on Friday arrested 12 people accused of participating in an anti-government demonstration.
The group was seen in a video holding placards denouncing Mnangagwa’s imminent assumption of the SADC chairmanship at the Harare summit of regional countries. The lawyers named the 12 as Enios Siacheya, Mike Gibson, Manka Ncube, Tendai Dube, Rosemary Mangwaira, Mary Siankumbile, Queen Sianjama, Egnes Siabwela, Dickson Mbelele and Beauty Chuma. Mnangagwa’s critics say the widespread arrests were designed to thwart planned street protests which activists had called for August 16, the day on which heads of state were scheduled to arrive.
The United Nations rights office has urged authorities to free the activists. “We call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily.