Lovemore Lubinda|The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) has called on the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), to intervene and protect protestors rights from violation by police.
This comes amidst reports that include that residents in Mufakose suburb clashed with police resulting in some of them being arrested and taken to Marimba Police Station, along with some journalists who were covering the skirmishes, only to be released after police deleted pictures from their phones and cameras.
The recent upheavals were partly triggered by the government’s decision to impose certain bans on imports, which didn’t go down well with cross border traders.
The protests started in Beitbridge and spread to the capital, were commuter drivers and touts also took the opportunity to vent their anger in protest against the existence of numerous road blocks on the city’s roads, and the alleged demanding of bribes by traffic police officers.
The government responded by deploying the police to deal with the disturbances.
The CSVR says it is joining other civic organisations in condemning the Zimbabwean government’s use of force, which it claimed to be excessive, to deal with protests.
CSRV community intervention programme manager, Tsholofelo Sesanga says, when policing is introduced it needs to be within the realm of the human rights discourse; “The excessive police violence used against protestors is an indication that the state is misusing its power in times of disorder and symbolic instability,” she said in a press release.
The centre said the protests were a manifestation of the people’s anger and frustration over decisions made by government, as a way to urge the authorities to take their concerns into consideration.
CSVR says it noted that the decision by Zimbabwe, would also affect other SADC countries apart from South Africa, which use the Beitbridge to transport resources to countries like Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi.
She warned that if government doesn’t take action these protests have a potential to spread to other areas.
As the situation remained tense, people stayed out of work yesterday as they responded to the call to action. A snap survey in the capital indicated that there was no heavy police presence in the CBD.
However, despite the situation being calm in the city the whole day as businesses were closed.