The theatre group arrested in Centenary Friday for putting on a play about national healing have been released, according to this statement from Rooftop Promotions:

The Rooftop Promotions team of “Rituals” has scored another victory after spending more than 24 hours in police cells between Centenary and Bindura. This is the 3rd time the production has had an encounter with the police and each time we have emerged mentally and spiritually stronger with firmer and unshakeable resolve to stand with our craft.

Enroute from Bindura this evening, we learnt with great joy that Joyce Mpofu, has just won the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) Best Actress Award for her brilliant performance in “Rituals”. How beautiful it would have been had she been available in person to receive this industry coveted performers prize. Shows resume tomorrow in Glendale and Nzvimbo at 11am and 2pm respectively.

Rooftop Promotions issued this statement today about the latest arrest of their cast. The play, about national healing and reconciliation, has been nominated for several National Arts Merit Awards. Ironically, these awards are to be presented tonight.

The Rooftop Promotions team of the National Arts Merit Awards nominated best theatrical production for 2010, “Rituals” was detained and arrested last night in Centenary, Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe. Among those arrested are NAMA nominees for the same production in best actor (Mandla Moyo) and actress (Joyce Mpofu). The charges are still very sketchy. “Rituals,” written by award winning Please update nowauthor and doyen of the theatre industry, Stephen Chifunyise is a story on how community initiated solutions to healing and reconciliation meet serious resistance with political processes. This is the second time the cast has been arrested.

After Mubarak’s resignation was announced on Friday, we sent out this text message to our subscribers:

Kubatana! People power brings down 30 year dictatorship in Egypt. Mubarak has resigned. Cairo is celebrating.

Below are some of the replies – which give a sense of how similar many Zimbabweans view the two countries’ situations to be:

• There were 10 dictators hanging on the wall & if 2 dictators should accidentally fall there’ll be 8 dictators hanging on the wall and if 1 dictator should accidentally fall there’ll be 7 ….And so on!
• Happy, hapy, hapy new Egypt!! Mubarak is gone. Unitd, ple cn do it. Who’s nxt? Free Africa’s cmng
• Thank God! hope the same wl happen in Zim!
• SO THAT MUST TAKE PLACE IN MOST STATES WITH SAME RULERS.THANK YOU.
  WE LIKE THAT
• Yhus good and it proves that people power is heavier than indvidual power
• Ko isiwo todii?
• Lets pray Zimbabwens can do the same.
• Where next?
• Aluta continua!
• SAME SHOULD HAPPEN MAP OUT STRATEGY
• Congratulations
• MAKOROKOTO EGYPT. THE PEOPLE  HAS GOT POWER, THE POWER IS WITHIN THE PEOPLE… secrifice and determination breed success.
• Go egypt go
• People’s power counts. The emancipation in Egypt is for us all. God is for us all.
• We are also celebrating.
• Thanks for the news.African dictators should go
• I saw it coming! A lesson 4 other leaders.
• Great!This shld b a new beginning 4 Egyptians and there shld b zero tolerance 2 US/Israeli interference in the next political dispensation
• Thanx dictorship must end in zimba
• Lets be vigilant and celebrate
• The voice of the pple is the voice of God. Long live Egypt. Long live Zim
• IN EVERY WAR THERE HAS TO BE BLOODSHED  THE INNOCENT OR THE GUILTY ! BUT THE INNOCENT WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL, BY  GOD’S GRACE. FORWARD WITH REFORMATION AND REVOLUTION. CHANGE WE WANT AND IT WILL BE.
• Strong will, courage and determination is all it takes to change the world.
• Thats something to smile about.hope the same will happen in zw
• What a relief. Surely where there is a will there is a way. In the name of the almighty GOD let us wait for the next one in line to follow suit.
• Praise God Next Is . . .
• We Zimbabweans should follow what has been done in Egypt.

This just in from NANGO: The director and two researchers of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum have been taken into custody at Harare Central Police Station. They are being questioned regarding research they were conducting in Highfields about transitional justice.

Earlier today, the Youth Forum offices were raided by police, who questioned why the organisation is encouraging young people to register to vote.

Read this statement from the Youth Forum:

Youth Forum Offices Attacked, Closed

Six unidentified men, suspected to be state agents, stormed the Youth Forum Offices today demanding to know why the organization is encouraging young people to register to vote. The attack is a direct reaction to the Youth Forum’s program where it’s encouraging young people to register to vote by sending SMSs.

The suspected state agents stormed the offices and started unplugging the organisation’s computers and laptops from the main power supply violently saying they were looking for what they termed ‘Mass Communications Equipment’ that the organization is using to send SMSs to young potential voters. After realising that they could not find such equipment at the Youth Forum’s Headquarters, they became very violent and started pushing around furniture and equipment and shoving around the organization’s secretariat. They were so violent that they frightened a few of the organization’s youth members who had come to the offices with complaints that they were failing to register as voters due to a lot of bureaucracy.

The men demanded to know why the organization is sending SMSs urging young people to vote when the country’s presidents has not yet declared the date of elections. They said these SMSs are causing a lot of problems as the Registrar General’s Office is now clogged with a lot of young men and women who want to register as voters. They also insulted the organization’s national coordinator with words that cannot be spelt out in public notifications like this one. They left after grabbing some literature from the offices and threatened the Youth Forum secretariat with unspecified action if the SMSs continue to reach its targeted audience. They threatened to come back with more arsenals to ‘deal with the organization’. For the concerns of security, the offices of the organization have been temporarily closed until the situation normalises. The national coordinator has visited the offices of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights for legal advice on the matter.

The Youth Forum is currently carrying out a campaign to urge young people to go out and register as voters. The campaign consists of a number of activities that will ensure that most youths become registered voters and will cast their ballots in any election. Among the activities being carried out in the campaign includes the sending of SMSs to an average of 18,000 youths at least three times every week urging them to take their National Identification Cards and proof of residence and go to their nearest Registrar’s office and register to vote. It is these SMSs that have resulted in a lot of youths visiting the responsible offices in their droves trying to register as voters. The Youth Forum is also concerned by the number of youths who are being turned away because of lack of documentation including the death certificates of parents and grandparents. We would like to urge the registrar Generals office to reconsider certain requirements for registering as voters as these are disadvantaging a lot of youths from registering.

We would also like to categorically state that no amount of intimidation or harassment will deter the resolve of the organization from encouraging its members to register as voters. The youths shall register to vote and will vote come election time and no amount of such threats and coercion will stop the youths from voting as this is their democratic right that cannot be taken away from them. The actions by these suspected state agents should be condemned with the strongest terms possible as it only undermines the efforts by the government to democratise the country.

This statement from the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) further discusses some of the violence experienced in Zimbabwe’s capital yesterday:

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) condemns in the strongest terms reports that youths suspected to belong to a certain political party destroyed large copies of NewsDay and harassed newspaper vendors from the stable in and around the city of Harare today.

The VMCZ notes with serious concern that this unwarranted intimidation of Newsday vendors is undemocratic and inimical to freedom of expression. It is our considered view that where citizens are against contents of a publication, or a media house, they should seek recourse either through the Media Complaints Committee under the auspices of VMCZ.

VMCZ  therefore urges those that are behind today’s barbaric actions to refrain from destroying the newspapers and harassing vendors who are going about in their daily duties but should instead allow the free flow of information in the country.

This is particularly important given that Article 19 of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) recognizes the importance of the right to freedom of expression and the role played by a free media in a multi-party democracy. It is therefore important that newspaper vendors, journalists and media publishing houses be allowed to continue their professional duties without any hindrance.

VMCZ strongly urges the Zimbabwe Republic Police to fully and impartially investigate the incidences of violence and bring the perpetrators to justice. We also call upon all political parties in the country to warn their supporters to refrain from attacking newspaper vendors and destroying newspapers as this infringes on freedom of expression and denies Zimbabweans an opportunity to have multiple sources of information.

Following a phone call from some colleagues and observations from our own staff coming into work yesterday morning, we sent out this text message to our SMS subscribers:

Kubatana! We have received reports of violence in Harare’s CBD. Please take care of yourself. Text us to report what you’re seeing or email info [at] kubatana [dot] net

We then received a number of messages from our subscribers, which confirmed this alert recently sent out by the MDC:

Hundreds of Zanu PF youths have destroyed and looted property and goods at the Gulf Complex in the Harare Central Business this morning.  The Zanu PF youths are wearing MDC T-shirts.  They gathered at Zanu PF headquarters early this morning before driving past the MDC headquarters, Harvest House in seven trucks on their way to the Zanu PF Harare provincial offices along Fourth Street.  At the Zanu PF provincial offices, they were given MDC T-shirts.  They then marched to the Gulf Complex where they looted goods and property.

Some of our subscribers also took advantage of the opportunity to report other acts of violence, intimidation and harassment they have been experiencing.

Read some of these citizen journalist reports below:

• I have seen people flocking there at Gulf Complex and it’s closed. I think Zanu PF hooligans. Main reason I haven’t heard.
• From my own point of view this is what they call phase 2 of campaigning coz they are targetting shops belonging to Nigerians to move from CBD to industrials and leave CBD for Zimbabweans.
• We are being threatened with death should your name fail to be seen on Sabuku’s list of Zanu PF members.
• In Nyanga people are forced to sign anti-sanctions document, at hospital and in location. Violence has started.
• Zanu PF youth have destroyed the Gulf Complex.
• I have witnessed violence yesterday where Zanu PF thugs are victimising people. They were forcing them to sign a sanctions petition including Claudius Makova former Bikita MP.
• They are the same people whom we put into office through the inclusive government who want to inject fear into the people so that when it comes to elections people will vote with fear.
• Zanu PF youth are marching in the CBD beating and forcing people to close shops.
• I’m seeing the best chance for the two MDCs to pull out of the most unholy union made on Mother Earth.
• Zanu PF youths passed through Standard Chartered Bank Robert Mugabe branch as I was there withdrawing my cash at the ATM. They robbed me of my cash.
• Ma one chiawo met a large mob vachimhanya towards Zanu PF Harare HQ chanting pro mugabe slogans.
• Gulf Complex has been looted, tables & glasses broken. Thugs made shops to close. Riot was slow in reaction and only came when the damage was already done.
• I am in Avonlea, it’s very quiet.
• In Robert Mugabe Street, I’ve noticed most shops have closed and the so called who are doing this are travelling in trucks and kombis chanting songs. It’s scary.
• Even here they were patrolling at night after beating two people at Warren Park for wearing red t-shirts.
• I didn’t see anything.
• How much were all those people paid to toyi-toyi and loot.
• Mutare is cool
• There’s no rule of law & urgent attention is needed to be stamped by responsible authorities.
• Some transport operators are being forced to carry Zanu PF supporters into the city centre.
• Jabulani Sibanda is going to contact a meeting at Zvavahera Business Centre on the 18th of February. He highlighted it like fanai kutendeuka mukasada Zanu PF tinokuurayayi.
• Very tense I’m told people are being beaten by Zanu PF thugs. Streets leading to Market Square blocked by police. Shops closed.
• Here in Nyanga Zanu PF activists and war vets tried to beat up people but MDC-T activists resisted and promised to use traditional means like kuromba.
• Ndiri kuona Zanu PF iri kutsvaga kurohwa MDC. Tichaendawo kuno varwisawo hapana akabata mazai. Vakaramba vachidaro hokoyo nesu.
• The Zanu PF youths are beating people. Their main targets are the Nigerians at Gulf – they say they are supporting the MDC. They did it also on Friday, around 10pm.
• The situation is bad. Businesses are at a hold. All shops are closed.
• They are targeting some Nigerian shops and brutalising innocent people.
• Yeah there is violence at 4th street bus terminus the youth are taking the commuter omnibuses to their own destination.
• In Epworth Zanu PF youths are refusing development by MDC’s. They are destroying good work. What’s bad about development then?
• Zanu is well known for violence. It uses state security to suppress the masses.
• Yes it’s true. In Highfield on Saturday people were forced to attend a Zanu PF meeting at Zororo Centre.
• Chitungwiza is at ease – no violence. The problem here is we are one and a half weeks without water from the taps.
• Youths toy-toying riot police in position. Tense but not threatening between Nehanda Gulf.
• Zanu PF youth are demanding the take over of foreign owned shops, particularly Nigerian ones.
• They have looted goods at Gulf Complex.
• Victimisation in Mbare.
• Trucks of cars with people singing.
• There are many lorries carrying youths to 4th Street.
• In Chitungwiza Unit N and D the junta bases have started last week in Unit N. We receive many cases. One youth was attacked by a bottle of beer and he had injuries on his back. He was treated at Chitungwiza hospital yesterday – got 14 Stitches. At Unit A Maruza Shops Zanu PF youth attack many people accusing them of supporting the MDC.
• Police have sealed off area around the Gulf Complex. Vehicles freely moving through but pedestrians prohibited. Heard that there was looting. The Gulf complex and shops around it closed.
• Those thugs are at it again. I stay in Mbare and yesterday (Sunday) someone knocked on my door and upon opening the door i saw a familiar face which I always see when going to the shops with my kids. There stood a woman who clearly told me that she is a Zanu Pf Branch chairwoman,and she told me that i must come for a meeting by 5pm that same day, failure to attend as she said will result in me and my family being attacked (killed). To tell you the truth i attended the meeting, but against my will (for the sake of my family’s life).
• Yes I can confirm that there are spontaneous incidents of violence in the CBD. Today when I was driving along Seke Road I saw a multitude of youths marching and chanting Zanu PF slogans towards the Railway Station. Business came to a stand still as these rowdy youths disturbed the traffic movement. Barely 15 mins later I then saw 4 truck loads of people along Nelson Mandela / Julius Nyerere singing and chanting slogans, again, with the obvious intention of intimidating people. One then wonders whether this is a strategy of instilling fear in the masses to avoid a possible Cairo or its an election strategy of some kind.
• Zaka residents are failing to get time to work in their fields after kraal heads compiled registers of all subjects 16 years and above to be drafted in Zanu PF’s political structures. Anyone who fails to attend these daily meetings are promised thorough beatings or murder by soldiers.
• Been in the CBD and the Gulf Complex is closed. Police are moving in the street. Havent encountered violence as yet.
• Zanu PF youths planning to chase away Nigerians at the Gulf Complex. Some are from Mbare and Mufakose
• The information is that Zanu PF youths are going to loot at gulf complex in the name of MDC T – They want to chase the Nigerians. Can we support the inclusive government.
• ZANU PF youth are threatening vendors not to sell anything so people here are confused and puzzled about the situation. They say they are going to eat and destroy everything worried Highfield
• We are seeing the black boot police all over the place what is going on, Kubatana
• Yes there is violence to our workplace from zanu pf youths they are now forcing us to buy zanu pf cards is that democracy? Is there any other opposition party which will rul Zimbabwe or zanu pf wil only rul?
• Latest info, im in mrewa rite now youth are now living in the bush from the bush to shopping centre at nhakiwa they are harassing people and bit them I hv names of the leaders and were they stay
• I HAVE SEEN THOUSANDS OF ZANU 4ROM MBARE THERE WHE RE WHERE FEAR SOMEYOU CANT CROSS THROUGH THEM
• It is saddening 2 c that the machinery arm of violent is extending. Border gezi graduates a under military training @ Siakobvu in Nyami-Nyami District Kariba 4 next 3 or 4 months.
• Quite a number of camps have been put in place around the country
• Word on e street says e pin heads maybe planning on attacking the Galz offices. Warn them to up their security at all times.
• The liberation party is supposed to be removed through the barrel of the gun. Food for thought.
• I saw zanu pf youths chanting slogans and forcing people to close their shops this morning I didn’t understand what was going on
• Here in mudzi they are starting 2morow mayouth wil let u know
• I saw Televisions being destroyed whilst the police were just watching. Shops were forced to close. By Gulf police were just watching them when shops were closed.
• The will beat us come election day we know what we want
• CHIPANGANO MBARE IS MAIN TRAUBLE OF VAILENCE OF TODAY IN THE CBD THEY WAN’T ALL CHINA’S OUT
• LOOTED CELLPHONES NOW ON SALE IN MFAKOSE BY YOUTHS
• We are destroying our country and this lays bare the tragic consequences of one man basic animal motivation; deep rooted greed for domination.
• What is happening here is too bad, zanu pf supporters. Wearing t shirts are actually beating innocent people like mdc supporters are being victimised. the situation is very tense for zimbabwe runn election this year.