Opposition MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume has been released after spending the day at the Harare Central Police Station Law and Order Section with the authorities saying they will contact his lawyer in any event they need him.
Mafume who was in the company of his lawyer Advocate Tonderai Bhatasara and Kucaca Phulu from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) told 263Chat that he handed himself to the law and order section in the morning on the back of reports that suggested he was on the police wanted list.
“Upon hearing that they were looking for me, in the company of my lawyers Tonderai Bhatasara and I then enquired what it is they wanted for me and they said for now there is nothing they wanted for me and that they will call me back should the need arise so I’m out.
“I have been put on some list which said I was wanted and also I had received information that said I was wanted by the police,” Mafume said.
Asked on whether there were interrogations throughout his detention, Mafume said the authorities asked some questions which he said was for profiling.
When the news of Mafume’s detention broke out Monday afternoon, MDC deputy spokesperson Bekithemba Mpofu described the detention as a sign of the government’s unpreparedness to set the country on a new path hence perpetuating its isolation from the international community.
“These arrests, abductions and torture of citizens including leaders of trade unions and civic society do not only invite isolation of Zimbabwe but are an impediment to the much needed National dialogue…
“The MDC is concerned with the continued persecution of MDC leaders. Mr Mafume is a councilor for ward 17 in Mt Pleasant. Several councilors across the country have been arrested since January.
“Members of Parliament and senior leaders have also been brought before the courts on trumped up charges some as scary as treason,” he said.
President Mnangagwa’s government has received local and international condemnation on the violations of human rights with the United States of America extending sanctions recently. The United Nations (UN) is also understood to be on its way to Zimbabwe to investigate human rights violations to which the opposition supporters and civil society leaders have been subjected to recently.
