Eight Chiredzi residents in Zimbabwe are languishing in prison after they were denied bail following their arrest charged with contravening the provisions of the repressive Maintenance of Peace and Order (MOPO) Act last week.

Zimbabwean authorities are accused of abusing MOPO by banning the main opposition political party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa’s pre-election campaign activities.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) reported today (11 July) that Farai Chauke (42), a lawyer at Chauke and Associates Legal Practitioners, was arrested on July 5 together with seven Chiredzi residents namely, Mollen Shonhai (27), Gladmore Gungubu (18), Kudzai Madyira (27), Charles Mungate (50), Lloyd Mushari (26), Agrippa Dhambureni (29) and Simon Hlomani (56) after some Zimbabwean Police officers threw teargas canisters at some CCC supporters, who were gathered outside Tshovani Stadium in Chiredzi in Masvingo province.

Chauke, Shonhai, Gungubu, Madyira, Mungate, Mushari, Dhambureni and Hlomani were charged with failure to comply with conditions under which a meeting is authorised as defined in section 8 (ii) of the MOPO Act.