Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Peace Project and Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights have issued the following statement on violence during the current Constitutional outreach campaign:

A Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) outreach meeting was on Saturday 14 August, 2010 abandoned in Chipinge, Manicaland Province after some ZANU PF youths assaulted two villagers prior to commencement of the meeting.

The COPAC meeting was scheduled to be held at Checheche Primary School.

The villagers Charles Chovi and Charles Chunje were assaulted by some ZANU PF youths at Checheche Primary School, who were led by Tonderai Ngwendu and Gilbert Kombo, who used benches, boots and clenched fists.

The two villagers were accused of sitting on some benches which had been set up before the arrival of the COPAC team members for a meeting to solicit people’s input into a proposed draft constitution.

ZZZICOMP monitors who witnessed the incident reported that Chovi and Chunje sustained some injuries on their bodies and on the ear and sought medical attention at St Peters Hospital.

The COPAC meeting was called off after some villagers protested that the meeting could not proceed as some of them had been assaulted and intimidated before the arrival of the COPAC team members. Ngwendu and Kombo were fined by the police at Chisumbanje Police Station, who also asked Chovi and Chunje to pay an admission of guilty fine for engaging in public fighting.

Honourable David Chimhini confirmed the assault and the abandonment of the meeting. He said it was evident that some villagers had been intimidated before the arrival of the COPAC team and his team had to postpone the meeting to a date to be advised as tension was high at the meeting.

This entry was posted on August 16th, 2010 at 2:29 pm by Bev Clark and is filed under Activism, Governance, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.