WOZA women lay down their lives – again

emanding the inclusion of civic society voices in the mediation led by President Thabo Mbeki.
WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu were among those arrested but later released. Many were assaulted by the police.
The US State department spokesperson Sean McCormack condemned the arrest and urged Harare to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.
WOZA has been rolling out a mass action programme against political violence and what they call the spread of hate across the country. They have remained a lone voice after the opposition and civic society here abandoned confrontation after the brutal crackdown on the March 11 prayer meeting.
Police swooped on the several hundred WOZA members as they gathered at the administrative centre for Insiza District for a march. Scores of others followed their arrested colleagues to the police station in solidarity.
Earlier the police apparently warned they would shoot any demonstrators who defied a legal ban on the protest.
WOZA – which encourages women to stand up for their rights and freedoms – deliberately defied the police ban which they said was in accordance with constitutional freedoms of assembly and expression
The organisers said Zimbabwe was crying for the victims of political violence and politically motivated rape, for hungry children and orphans, and for those who die of HIV and Aids.
The women want to remind people that only love can overcome the hate. Their People’s Charter defines the new Zimbabwe they want. The Charter is the result of an eleven-month process of consulting ordinary Zimbabweans on what they want in a socially just future.