 Mudekwa organised the demonstration to protest against China’s continued support of the Mugabe regime which has launched a nation-wide post-election campaign of mass-scale violence and retribution against opposition supporters.
The Chinese embassy refused to accept the petition and the police arrested the protesters as they had not been granted permission to stage the demonstration.
At present four leaders of the Revolutionary Youth Movement of Zimbabwe are being held for questioning.Â
In addition to Mudekwa, they are John Chikwari, general secretary, Max Gatakaca, organising secretary and Farai Chimanikire, chairman of the Pretoria branch.
At issue is the seven-day notice period required by the police for granting permission to hold a march or demonstration. Â
However, the situation is so volatile in Zimbabwe – literally changing by the hour – that Zimbabweans in the Diaspora say they have to respond immediately to crises as they have become the voice of their oppressed families back home.Since 29 March, the day of the elections, ten people have been brutally murdered by the regime, more than 500 have been beaten or tortured – some so seriously that they will recover – and hundreds of homes have been burnt down.
In addition, at least 3 000 families have been displaced and more than 400 Movement for Democratic Change activists have been detained. Fear is sweeping the rural areas as people flee the savagery.Â
Even children have not been spared the beatings and a five-year boy was burnt to death when his home was razed to the ground. His parents were then forced by the perpetrators to bury the body.
 Last week a Chinese ship arrived at Durban harbour carrying 77 tons of weapons and ammunition packed in six containers for onward transportation to the Zimbabwean regime.Â
Demonstrations took place around the world and the ship left the harbour on Friday night to escape a High Court order blocking its contents from being offloaded and sent to Zimbabwe overland.
This is not the first time that China has sent weapons to Zimbabwe.
In June 2004, China supplied the Zimbabwean regime with 12 FC-1 jet fighters and 100 military vehicles worth US$ 240 million, an investment the country could not afford.Â
In February 2005, China supplied the Zimbabwean regime with assault rifles, military vehicles and other support material, including more than 100 Dongfeng vehicles, via the port of Beira. This was just a month ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections.Â
Mudekwa said that, in both instances, the money should have been spent where it was most needed, notably food for the poor, healthcare, education and Zimbabwe’s disintegrating infrastructure.
Gabriel Shumba, executive director of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, said it was not necessary for the police to arrest people since it was a peaceful demonstration and they could merely have been asked to disperse.
Shumba said he was concerned that some of the demonstrators might be sent back to Zimbabwe. In view of the government crackdown, he said their lives would be in grave danger if they returned.
   Meanwhile, the Movement for Democratic Change in Johannesburg reports that about 200 to 250 heavily armed police are currently raiding the MDC’s Harvest House Headquarters in Harare.
The armed policemen have taken as many as three hundred mainly rural people who had sought sanctuary at the party headquarters to escape the brutal violence unleashed by the regime on opposition members and supporters.
According to the MDC, the police claim they are searching for various undisclosed documents.
Specifically, they say they require the documents that formed the basis of the MDC’s claim that they won the election in general and the Presidential ballot in particular.
They have also taken all computers and equipment used by the MDC at their election command centre.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network in Harare have also been raided. The ZESN is an NGO coalition formed to promote democratic processes.
Post published in: News