According to reports, a planned celebratory picnic on a farm outside Harare by the Royal Society of St George was banned, allegedly because “a crowd of whites waving the Union Jack on a white-owned farm would provoke trouble among local ZANU PF militants.”
Brian Heathcote the president of the society refused to comment on the matter when asked by journalists, but a report in the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper said: “The society's committee emailed its members on Friday to tell them that "we will not be allowed to hold our picnic to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee."
The new British Ambassador, Deborah Bronnert, was expected to have attended the celebrations. The matter highlights once again the abuse of POSA by the police and the Mugabe regime. Even under the repressive requirements of the Act, no police permission is required for private gatherings on private property. SW Radio Africa