From SW Radio Africa via AllAfrica:
5 WOZA members have been detained at Harare Central while 9 are being treated for injuries, after being severely beaten by police on Wednesday. The group were waiting to present a petition to David Coltart, the new Education Minister, when they were set upon by riot police.
WOZA leader Jennie Williams said the pressure group had an official appointment to meet Coltart and had been gathering peacefully waiting for him.
She said 450 activists marched to the government building but were violently dispersed by the riot police “who were banging their shields and singing, “today we are going to beat you” as they descended on the group and viciously began to do so. They later changed their song to why are your husbands allowing you to demonstrate?”
As the women were driven off to Harare Central police station they were heard singing “we want education for our children.”
WOZA has embarked on a campaign to have the non-operational education sector declared a ‘national disaster’ and to allow children who were disadvantaged by the education crisis last year an opportunity to repeat, at no cost.
They had wanted to hand a petition with 25,000 signatures to the Education Minister, who criticized the manner in which the police handled the situation.
The Minister, who is proving to be more tolerant than his predecessors, promised WOZA that he would do everything in his power to ensure that every child goes back to school.
But the so-called inclusive government is facing many challenges since its formation two week ago. The police continue to use unnecessary force to deal with peaceful protestors, the political detainees are still in custody in gross violation of the global political agreement and Robert Mugabe continues to making important government decisions without consulting his partners in the power share government. This was best illustrated this week when Mugabe announced the appointment of permanent secretaries – all from his party.
