Rally banned ... MDC leader Nelson Chamisa was expected to deliver a key speech to supporters in Mbare on Wednesday The MDC said police had blocked party leader Nelson Chamisa from making an address to Zimbabweans in Mbare on Wednesday.
Chamisa planned to deliver a State of the Nation Address at Mai Musodzi Hall in Mbare, but the MDC says police informed the party that the event could not proceed.
The police cited “flimsy excuses that the event cannot proceed because they are busy with the schools that are opening this week, as if the police have anything to do with opening of schools,” deputy party spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said.
He added: “We are noting a disturbing trend where the police are routinely proscribing MDC events and treating the party as a banned organisation in the country. Starting with our scheduled peaceful and constitutional public protests in the various cities that were brutally quelled by the police in August last year, as well as President Nelson Chamisa’s Hope of the Nation Address that was violently proscribed on November 20, 2019, we have noted a very disturbing trend where the police are banning legitimate and constitutional activities by the party.”
amborinyoka said they had postponed their event to Tuesday, January 21, at a venue to be announced.
MDC vice president Tendai Biti said the actions of the police were partisan and political.
“This is the umpteenth time that police have banned our meetings. Only illegitimate, insecure autocrats are afraid of dissent and difference of legitimate expression,” Biti said on Twitter.
Chamisa is expected to use his speech to outline how the MDC intends to deal with a political paralysis that has led to an economic collapse in the country.
