release. In a related incident, Blessing Chidakwa, a journalist with the Herald and accredited with the ZMC was
detained by police officers on 25 December 2019 and was forced to delete footage he had recorded of police
officers smashing windscreens of commuter omnibuses. Chidakwa was manhandled by three police officers at
Roadport bus terminus on Christmas Day. The officers dragged him to where their vehicle was parked and forced
him to delete all the pictures he had taken. He did not resist for fear of being assaulted with baton sticks that the
police were wielding. He was only released after he threatened to notify the National police spokesperson,
Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi of the incident.
Politicians were not spared from police harassment as evidenced by a case where, anti-riot police officers
harassed MDC ward 43 Councillor, Norman Makondo at Budiriro 5 shopping centre on 29 December 2019. The
officers who were raiding vendors harassed Makondo for confronting them at the shopping centre. They took
Makondo to Budiriro police station charging him with inciting public violence, by condemning their operation.
Makondo was detained and interrogated for hours before being released.
In another incident, MDC youths threw a party in a local shop in Rushinga at Chimhanda Township in ward 15 on
23 December 2019. After the celebrations, a group of seven police officers interrogated the shop owner on why
such an event had been held at his premises. The officers demanded a bribe from the shop owner and one of the
officers was quoted saying, ‘tipei kamari kuti nyaya iyi ipere’ translating to “give us some money for us to drop
the charge”. The shop owner refused to pay the solicited bribe.
The brazen lawlessness of machete wielding artisanal mining gangs heightened as one police officer was
seriously injured and another murdered by a gang popularly known as “Team Barca” armed with machetes,
logs, axes and catapults; in the course of carrying out their duties. This occurred on 28 December 2019 at
Good Hope Mine in Muzvezve constituency in Battlefields. The mine is owned by the constituency legislator
who authorised Zanu PF youths in the constituency to undertake mining activities in a youth empowerment
programme.
Political violence targeted at MDC supporters was reported in December 2019. On 1 December 2019, eight
suspected Zanu PF youths visited Daniel Mandlovu*’s homestead in Chiwundura around midnight accusing him