Police Brutalise Tsvangirai’s Ally In Fresh Crackdown

RUSAPE, October 25, 2015 – An ally of Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been left nursing serious injuries after he was brutally assaulted by police officers on Friday. 

David Tekeshe, the MDC-T party’s deputy treasurer for Manicaland province was on Friday left badly injured when police officers pounced on him after breaking up a gathering of the opposition party supporters at Rusape Magistrates Court, where they had attended in solidarity with Tazviona Marima, the MDC-T party’s organising secretary for Makoni Central District, who appeared in court and was granted $100 bail after he was arrested on Wednesday and charged with criminal nuisance.

Tekeshe sustained serious head injuries from the assault by police officers and had to seek medical assistance at a local hospital before he was locked up in police cells together with Williard Nyazorwe, an MDC-T supporter.

Tekeshe and Nyazorwe were charged with contravening Section 176 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly assaulting or resisting a peace officer during the time when members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police broke up the gathering of the MDC-T supporters.

The MDC-T officials who appeared in court on Saturday were remanded in custody to Monday, when their lawyers Blessing Nyamaropa and Taurai Khupe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are expected to apply for the release of their clients on bail.

Apart from Tekeshe and Nyazorwe, Rusape police officers on Friday also detained and interrogated three journalists among them senior freelance journalist Sydney Saize, Bernard Chiketo of The Daily News and Kenneth Nyangani, a correspondent for NewsDay respectively in a fresh onslaught against media practitioners.

Saize, Chiketo and Nyangani were arrested while covering the MDC-T solidarity celebrations outside Rusape Magistrates Court. The three journalists were only freed after police commanders interrogated them and profiled them noting down their identification details and their residential addresses.