WOZA leaders still in prison

Another WOZA member arrested in Bulawayo; Williams and Mahlangu approach 6th week in prison.
BULAWAYO – Another member of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) was arrested on June 28. The member was taken from her home in Nkulumane, together with her 10-month-old baby, by five plain-clothed police officers from the Law and Order Section at Bulawayo Central. She was questioned for several hours before being released at 9pm.
During her questioning about WOZA and its leadership, the police officers placed a gun on the table in front of her and threatened to shoot her. The names of those police officers that repeatedly threatened her were Nyamapande and Mbano. Another officer, Ncube, was also present during the interrogation. They boasted about having killed Maria Moyo, a WOZA member that passed away last September, and told her that she would meet the same fate. She was not allowed access to her lawyer.
Police told her that they would return in three days to get the answers to the questions that they asked her and threatened to kill her if she did not answer them correctly.
WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, incarcerated at Chikurubi Women’s Prison since May 28, are approaching their sixth week of detention. They were denied bail by Judge Ben Hlatshwayo in the High Court on June 11 because the State argued that they would organise Kenyan-style post-election violence.
WOZA notes that Tendai Biti, who has been accused of treason, a charge punishable by death, was granted bail last week. On the other hand, Williams and Mahlangu, accused of participating in a gathering with the intent to cause a breach of the peace, a charge that is punishable in most cases with a fine, have been in custody for over five weeks.
WOZA asks all its friends to continue to demand the release of Williams and Mahlangu, non-violent human rights defenders, whose only crime has been to demand social justice for all Zimbabweans and for an end to the violence that has engulfed Zimbabwe.