New wave of opposition arrests in Zimbabwe crackdown ahead of SADC summit

Zimbabwean police dispersing people at an intersection in Chitungwiza in August 2023, to prevent what they considered an illegal gathering. (Zinyange Auntony / AFP)

• Zimbabwean police arrested more than a dozen more opposition activists and leaders on Thursday and Friday.
• The government is cracking down ahead of expected protests around the SADC summit in mid August.
• A student leader, a religious leader, and rural activists were all rounded up.

More opposition figures were arrested on Friday in Zimbabwe as the hearing of four democracy activists seeking the release of opposition leader Jameson Timba was postponed.

Critics have long accused Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party — in power since independence in 1980 — of stifling both democracy and dissent.

But Human Rights Watch says the opposition and civil society groups are facing an intensifying crackdown ahead of a regional summit Zimbabwe is hosting in August.

Home Minister Kazembe Kazembe has accused the opposition of pushing for demonstrations around the time of the summit to provoke a “heavy-handed response” to attract international attention.

Timba was arrested in June with scores of others.

READ | Zimbabwe claims a foreign diplomat is working with opposition to disrupt SADC summit

A wave of new arrests emerged on Friday including that of opposition figure Jacob Ngarivhume and a religious leader.

The hearing of four democracy activists arrested Wednesday in Harare was meanwhile postponed to Monday.

They were charged Thursday under public disorder laws after taking part in protests demanding Timba’s release.

“They were subjected to torture both in the form of physical assault as well as mental torture” the activists’ lawyer Timashe Chinopfukutwa told reporters outside the court on Friday.

Another 14 were arrested in the small northwestern town of Kariba on Thursday, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) group.

According to the Zimbabwean National Students Union, its president, Emmanuel Sitima, was also arrested in Harare on Friday.