The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) has demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa ends what it calls colonial-era methods of governing the country.
CiZC accuses the government of weaponising the law (lawfare) to persecute critics.
This follows the arrest of CiZC spokesperson Obert Masaraure who is also Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) president and secretary-general Robson Chere. CiZC said:
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition calls on Mnangagwa’s government to end the colonial era methods of using the law enforcement and justice systems to mutilate the constitution of Zimbabwe by arresting and prosecuting those who justifiably speak out against his misgovernance.
Only this week police arrested CiZC spokesperson Obert Masaraure who is also Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) president and secretary-general Robson Chere.
Masaraure, who was arrested on Friday, is being charged with inciting public violence and defeating the course of justice hardly a week after he was released on bail on a murder charge emanating from a 2016 death that was ruled by the High Court as a suicide.
Police arrested Chere on the same murder charge and a day after, suspected state security agents raided ARTUZ offices and went on to ransack Masaraure’s home in Harare.
CiCZ added that this chain of events is not coincidental but a broader government strategy to clamp down on civil society organisations that speak out against corruption, misgovernance and human rights violations.