Police in Bulawayo have since last week been withholding fliers and confidential minutes they grabbed from the MDC-T offices after forcing party youths to abort the launch of the “Free Solomon Madzore Campaign”.
At least 50 party youths were arrested but were later released without a charge. In the urgent application, MDC T said the raid was illegal and sought an order directing Chihuri and the co-Home Affairs Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone to release all confiscated materials which includes minutes of a national council meeting held in December last year.
The Officer-In-Charge of Bulawayo Central Police Station, Mohadi and Makone are also cited as the first, second and third respondents respectively. The MDC-T said the continued withholding of party materials posed a threat as the information contained might “fall on wrong hands and be doctored”.
The withholding of material was also hampering the party’s efforts to implement the resolutions of the December meeting. In his founding affidavit MDC-T Bulawayo youth assembly chairman Bekithemba Nyathi said:“I am approaching this Honourable Court for an urgent order for the restoration of possession of 8 boxes of fliers (with each box containing 5000 copies) and two boxes (with each box containing 5000 copies) of the 3rd Applicants National Council Resolutions of the 17th December 2011 . . .,” said Nyathi.The matter has been set down for a hearing this week.
Madzore, who is the chairperson of MDC-T youth assembly, has been languishing at Chikurubi Maximum Prison together with other seven party members after they were arrested in October last year following the death of a police officer, Petros Mutedza, in Glen View.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in December came under fire from his party’s Youth Assembly for failing to ensure the release of Madzore. It charged that he was treating the issue with kid gloves.
Promise Mkhwananzi, the MDC-T youth assembly secretary-general said they wanted the party to treat Madzore’s arrest in the same manner it treated treasurer-general Roy Bennett’s arrest.
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