Tonight Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will be spending their 12th night in jail since leading a 16 October WOZA protest to demand that government address Zimbabwe’s nation wide food shortages.

The two were denied bail by Magistrate Charity Maphosa at the Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court. I phoned the Court this afternoon, and spoke with Magistrate Maphosa. I was hoping to hear some quiver in her voice that revealed even a pinprick of remorse for the fact that, thanks to her decision, these two women are still in cells. But she was unflappable. She refused to explain her judgement — and referred me to the Clerk of the Court to read her decision in full. When I pressed her further, she suggested that I speak with “the people behind these things,” as she was “just doing her job. She hung up on me before I could ask who, or what, exactly, she meant.

Phone Magistrate Charity Maphosa on +263 9 71051 and see if you have any better success getting her to explain herself. If you do, let us know!

This entry was posted on October 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Activism, Uncategorized, Women's issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.