Staff Writer
In an apparent attempt to frustrate the opposition MDC –T’s planned demonstration in  Mutare scheduled for  Saturday 25th June , police have ordered the Morgan Tsvangirai led movement to stage the protest instead on Thursday 23 June.
Party sources say such demos are more effective if held during the weekend when the majority of supporters are not at work.
MDC-T spokesperson for Manicaland, Trevor Saruwaka, said the police told them that Zanu PF had taken their intended Saturday slot.
“The reason proffered was that they had cleared a Zanu PF march on the 25th and ours on the earlier date. The police did not show us proof that indeed Zanu PF had applied, they simply refused to cooperate. This is because of the evil nexus between police and Zanu PF; it is extremely difficult to separate the two in the majority of cases,” said Saruwaka.
The MDC-T Mutasa Central MP however, said they were not going to be affected by the shifting of their demonstration date to mid week by the police.
“This is a clear machination to throw spanners into the people’s project but it is not going to stop us from challenging the regime,” he said.
“To us any time is tea time and we are saying the time for freedom is! The time for action is now! , even if they had given us a Monday the people of Manicaland are ready. We cannot wait any longer to express our frustrations and distaste of the prevailing conditions imposed on the people of Zimbabwe by the Zanu PF government”.
He said:“Because of the high unemployment levels created by the Zanu PF government there is now no difference between a week day and a weekend In Zimbabwe. A Monday or Thursday is as good as a Saturday or Sunday. In fact people are freer during weekdays because most go to church either on Saturday or Sunday. Monday to Friday they are at home or loitering in the streets because of the prevailing joblessness”.
“Let’s shame Zanu PF and its police by coming out in our thousands on Thursday the 23rd of June for our Freedom March”.