Mashonaland East provincial spokesperson Graham Nyahada said Passmore Kadawu was arrested when he went to lodge a complaint against the culprits who had pulled down posters advertising the rally. “We saw a group of people pulling down our posters and confronted them. One of them, a Murewa council employee, fled and left his bicycle behind. We then approached off-duty police officers with the bicycle as an exhibit. They advised us to keep it and wait for uniformed officers.
“No officer came on Saturday and the following day we sent Passmore to make a report at Murewa police station. Surprisingly, the police accused him of having stolen the bicycle, which they had told us to keep,” said Nyahada. They then approached one Makedenge, a detail with the Murewa station police internal investigations unit, who promised to ensure that their report was properly handled, but no action had been taken by the time of going to print.
“It is clear that the police are persecuting the MDC, as they have done all these years. It does not make any sense to arrest a victim of a crime and turn the culprit into a complainant,” said Nyahada.
Kadawu was released on Monday, with the police saying they would proceed by way of summons.
The Officer Commanding Murewa district, Chief Superintendent Chimbunde confirmed receiving reports of posters that were defaced over the weekend, but said he was not aware of any arrests.
“I will have to get into in contact with the Officer-in-Charge at Murewa Police Station to get more details,” he told The Zimbabwean.
Mashonaland Central is considered a Zanu (PF) stronghold and was one of the provinces worst affected by political violence during the 2008 elections.
Post published in: News