WOZA women in court again

They were arrested in October last year following a peaceful WOZA demonstration calling on the government to provide food aid for all. They spent three weeks in Mlondolozi Prison outside Bulawayo before being released on bail. The proceedings are currently stalled awaiting the Supreme Court’s long-delayed judgment on their application to have the section of the Code under which they are charged declared unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court heard legal arguments in June, but the early decision expected has not materialised. As the court vacation starts on December 3, judgment may not be handed down until the next term, which commences in January. This means the magistrate’s court proceedings will probably have to be postponed again.

WOZA’s experience at the hands of the police over the last six years illustrates the ingrained hostility of some police and government authorities to the constitutional right of freedom of assembly, which embraces the right to demonstrate. This hostility still exists in spite of the amendments made to the Public Order and Security Act in January 2008, amendments which had been agreed by Zanu (PF) and both MDC formations and were intended to open up democratic space for the expression of differing viewpoints.

Amendments ineffective

These amendments make it clear that breaking up a demonstration, even one not notified to the police in advance, should be a last resort, not the immediate knee-jerk reaction. The amendments also lay down strict rules for the use of force by police when dispersing a demonstration [where dispersal is really necessary in the interests of preventing damage to property or injury to persons.] In July, the government announced that it had directed police not to hinder citizens from demonstrating. Co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa [MDC-T] insisted that police had been instructed to allow people to demonstrate within the confines of the law.

He said “the Ministry does not deny anyone from taking part in peaceful demonstrations. Let it be known to all and sundry that demonstrations are allowed in Zimbabwe.” and added “Only on rare occasions will police resort to the use of minimum force to deal with unlawful public gatherings” and those who do resort to the use of “minimum force” do so “within the precincts of their mandate”.

Doubts about the effectiveness of the Ministry’s directions to the police are justified by events since July. An example is what happened in Bulawayo in September when WOZA members participated in a demonstration to mark the International Day of Peace. WOZA and Men of Zimbabwe Arise [MOZA] organized demonstrations in Harare and Bulawayo.

The Harare demonstration involving about 1000 people, and culminating in handing in a petition to officials at the UN offices asking the UN to help restore the health and education sectors, passed off peacefully, without police harassment -this in itself an eloquent illustration that these types of peaceful demonstrations should not be regarded as “opposition forces” and a danger to the public’s life, limbs and property.

Senseless violence

But in Bulawayo the demonstration in which 1300 activists in several separate groups attempted to reach the Mhlahlandlela government complex to present a petition for peace and social justice, was forcibly broken up by riot police who, to the horror of onlookers, viciously beat women and men alike to stop them reaching their target. The beatings resulted in over 20 participants needing medical treatment for injuries including broken limbs.

There was no reason for the police to break up this demonstration – it posed no threat to property, life or limb. Was this the “minimum force” said by co-Minister Mutsekwa to be only rarely used in response to demonstrations? A recognised definition of “minimum force” in this context is: “the force required to be applied to reach one’s objective, applied with a preventative and not punitive intent, and stopping when it is no longer necessary”. Those present at the scene in Bulawayo said that a senior police officer who arrived at the scene was heard to say, “You have not beaten them hard enough, that is why they regrouped, beat them harder.” That sounded suspiciously like punitive intent.