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Tony Jones talks to Opposition MP in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, about the arrest of and attack on Opposition members following a demonstration.

Transcript: Broadcast: 13/03/2007

TONY JONES: Those of you who follow the Zimbabwe story on this program over time will recall Zimbabwean MP David Coltart, he’s a member of the Movement for Democratic Change and he holds a position of Shadow Justice Minister. Luckily he’s out of the country at the moment. We were able to track him down in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. What do you think about what you’ve just heard, if you could hear clearly what was being said down the phone line from Harare?

DAVID COLTART, ZIMBABWEAN SHADOW JUSTICE MINISTER: Well, good evening, Tony, it’s good to be with you again. What has been described as typical of this regime, of course this conduct goes way back to the 1980s when Mugabe meted out similar punishment to Joshua Nkomo, his Zapu Opposition Party then. It’s entirely consistent with this regime. It’s an indication of the paranoia felt by Robert Mugabe and the regime now because this clearly is a new step in this campaign. For the last four or five years they haven’t actually targeted senior leaders in the way they’ve done this past weekend.

TONY JONES: You’ve accused the police in the regime in this case of actually torturing opposition figures. Does that include Morgan Tsvangirai to your belief?

DAVID COLTART: Absolutely. Morgan Tsvangirai and the other activists mentioned by Mr Mugabe. Let me just stress that when Morgan Tsvangirai and the other leaders such as Arthur Mutambara were arrested on Sunday, they were arrested in their vehicles. They weren’t arrested in a public venue at the rally. They were taken out of their vehicles and straight into police custody. So they could only have received these injuries at the hands of the police and that is torture, in my book.

The MDC expresses its deep concern and outrage regarding the events of the last few days in which political leaders, civic leaders and supporters have been arrested, tortured and denied access to lawyers and medical treatment. The murder by state agents of Gift Tandare marks another very disturbing development and is condemned.

It is important to recall that the opposition has a demonstrable record in the last 7 years of holding peaceful political rallies, and the church even more so. It is Zanu PF that has a record of violence. Accordingly the police general ban on political meetings for 3 months is unjustifiable in the first place.

However the general ban on all political meetings throughout Zimbabwe is also unlawful. As bad as POSA is, it does not allow the police to issue widespread banning orders as it has sought to do. Notwithstanding the provisions of POSA, the Zimbabwean Constitution is quite clear regarding the right that Zimbabweans have to demonstrate peaceably. POSA is clear that the police are obliged to consider each case on its merits and it cannot lightly disregard the fundamental right contained in the Constitution for people to demonstrate and meet peaceably. What the police have in effect done is issue a general ban reminiscent of the State of Emergency which ended in 1990. There is no declared State of Emergency and to that extent the police have acted completely unlawfully in purporting to issue a general ban as they have done.

This is a two-part transcript of a SW Radio Africa Hotseat Interview between ‘Hot Seat’ journalist Violet Gonda, and Raymond Majongwe of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, David Coltart of the Mutambara MDC, and lawyer Arnold Tsunga

Part 1: Broadcast 20 February 2007

Violet Gonda: Zimbabwe has been witnessing a wave of strikes by many groups including junior doctors and teachers demanding better working conditions in a country which now has the highest inflation rate in the world and the fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone. The country has also been seeing a spate of spontaneous demonstrations from several pressure groups and the opposition. To discuss the issue of the growing discontent within society, we welcome on the programme ‘Hot Seat’ Raymond Majongwe who is the Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of

Zimbabwe, David Coltart, a legal expert and member of the Mutambara MDC and Arnold Tsunga, the Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. Welcome on the programme.

All: Thank you Violet. Good evening Violet. Thank you.

Violet: Now let me start with Raymond Majongwe, what are your thoughts on the clashes between the police and the people this past week?

Raymond Majongwe : Apparently I think nobody must apologise. People in Zimbabwe are demanding their space back that has been taken over by both the politicians as well as the Military and the Police. And, if we really sit down on our laurels and think that we will be able to reclaim that space without blood, without sweat, then we will be fooling ourselves.

Violet: Now, we have also seen scores of people getting arrested for exercising their rights. We have seen MDC supporters, WOZA activists, NCA, Students, now, is it not also the case that you were arrested about a week ago for saying teachers earn the equivalent of 17 bananas a day?