The campaign started off peacefully with around 200 MDC-T youths having converged in the suburb to clean a local shopping mall.
The clean-up campaign had been cleared by the police, in accordance with the Public Order and Security Act.
Police details who were present however disturbed the peace when they arrested Vande Gambaya, the MDC-T Ward 16 Chairperson, accusing him of turning the campaign into a political gathering through singing and slogan chanting.
MDC-T National Youth Assembly Spokesperson, Clifford Hlatswayo, said he was not aware of any sloganeering by Gambaya.
"One of our members, the Chairperson for Ward 16 in Mabelreign, Vande Gambaya, was arrested for singing a song whilst carrying a clean-up campaign,'' said Hlatswayo.
He said they four police details had been assigned to escort them.
Harare Provincial Police Spokesperson, Inspector James Sabau, confirmed Gambaya's arrest, saying he had acted in breach of Posa.
"We received the application from the youth claiming that they wanted to do a clean-up campaign. We gave them the permission to go ahead. We agreed with them that they should not do any sloganeering and singing of political songs.
"The youth chairperson sang a song and also chanted slogans. The police officers present thus took him to the police station to caution him because the cleaning was happening at a shopping centre,'' said Sabau.
He added that Gambaya was subsequently released.
The Youth Chairperson condemned the action as a violation of the youth's rights.
Post published in: News