der imprisonment of the country’s Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri for 30 days for contempt of court.
In an urgent court application, the MDC said Chihuri and four other senior officers were in contempt of court after ordering the police to disrupt a rally of the opposition party in Harare’s low-income suburb of Highfield.
The rally had been sanctioned by the High Court but could not take place after armed police sealed off the venue and later fought running battles with MDC supporters who had turned up for the meeting.
“We hereby seek that the respondents be found in contempt of court and that they be imprisoned for a period of 30 days,” the MDC said in the application that had not been set down for hearing by late Tuesday.
Chihuri, Chief Superintendent Thomsen Jangara and other senior police officers identified only as Inspector Manyere, Assistant Inspector Chingururu and Assistant Inspector Moyo are cited as respondents in the application, the first to seek imprisonment of the country’s police chief.
Failure to punish the police chief and his subordinates would undermine the esteem of the High Court itself in the eyes of the public, the opposition party said.
“The esteem of the administration of justice in the eyes of the public will be shaken and therefore suffer irreparable harm if the honourable court does not react swiftly and decisively to the naked contempt of court,” the MDC said.
It was not clear whether the Attorney General’s office that represents government departments including the police had filed opposing papers by close of business on Tuesday.
The MDC had wanted to use the Highfield rally to launch its campaign for a presidential election that should take place next year but remains in great doubt after President Robert Mugabe said he wanted it pushed to 2010 so it could coincide with elections for Parliament.
The opposition party also urged the court to bar the police from banning future rallies of the party to launch its presidential election campaign, which it said it planned to launch any day before March 17, 2007.
Last week, police imposed a ban on political rallies and protests in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo ostensibly to allow tension to calm down in the three main cities.
But former Harare mayor and MDC organising secretary Elias Mudzuri said in an affidavit to court that the ban on rallies would derail the opposition party’s political programmes.
“Rallies are virtually the only direct mass media at the applicant’s disposal of communicating its political messages and advancing its programmes,” Mudzuri said.
Mugabe’s government has in recent weeks stepped up a crackdown against the opposition, arresting some of its leaders and banning political activity in volatile city suburbs as a harsh economic crisis continues driving political tensions to dangerous levels.
The proposals by Mugabe to extend his term by another two years without going through an election have helped stoke up tensions in the country with the political opposition and civic society groups threatening to roll out mass protests to block the plan.
A large section within Mugabe’s own ruling ZANU PF party is also opposed to extending his tenure. – ZimOnline
Post published in: News