SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Six villagers from Nyanga North were released on Wednesday following their arrest over the weekend, after defying a ZANU PF councilor and his attempt to bar them from receiving food support. The six, including the mother of a one year old child, were detained at Ruwangwe Police Station since their arrests on Sunday. Charity Katerere and the five other villagers, all MDC-T supporters, defied a ZANU PF councillor by taking government food supplies meant to be given out to all villagers. The local ZANU PF Councillor, Edward Maanda, had tried to deny them rights to this food, telling them get their maize from MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai. According to Sekai Gombe, the MDC-T secretary for information in Nyanga, Maanda tried to sideline the MDC-T supporters in the presence of a government official from Agritex, who explained that the maize was for all villagers, regardless of their political loyalties. Gombe told SW Radio Africa that the police were also at the scene, and instead of arresting the ZANU PF Councillor Maanda for defying the Agritex, they arrested the victimized MDC-T members and accused them of ‘stealing’. But Nyanga Magistrate Ignatio Mhene on Wednesday freed all six villagers, with the State admitting ‘irregularities’ in the case. Prosecutor Kelvin Mufute told Magistrate Mhene that the State will now proceed by way of summons as there was need for the police to conduct further investigations.