A WOZA demonstration was disrupted by the Police in Harare and 8 members were arrested but later released with no charge.
The women’s group was protesting against the Copac Constitution which they said suited the politicians but not the people. Some of the fliers distributed by the pressure group read: “The final draft constitution is as a result of negotiations behind closed doors and a deal that suits the principals and the political parties in the inclusive government.”
The right to hold a peaceful demonstration is universally accepted in all democratic countries. Zimbabwe, I readily accept, is a de facto one party dictatorship and hence this right has been routinely denied to everyone and WOZA members know this only too well. Denied to everyone that is except Zanu PF supporters; some, desperate to be noticed, have now given to parading in their tongs!
What the WOZA members must understand is that this Copac Constitution will not deliver and guarantee the right to peaceful demonstration just as it does not deliver and guarantee all the other basic rights including the right to a meaningful vote, the right not being whipped and the right to life itself. The day after this Copac rubbish is adapted, the ZRP will continue to harass, whip, arrest and even murder innocent Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe needs the GPA agreed reforms implemented including the ZRP reforms which would take away the Police and regime’s undemocratic and completely arbitrary powers. There only way we can force the implementation of these reforms now is by rejecting this Copac rubbish in the referendum. If Mugabe gets the yes vote he will never ever implement any of the reforms.
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