Zimbabwe pastor released; court says police violated rights

A day after his release from jail due to a court rejection of the charges brought against him, Pastor Evan Mawarire has called for the strike to continue against Zimbabwe’s economic hardships.

“There is a hope inside you that this country needs, and if you don’t get involved, you are robbing us of that hope”, he added.

Magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe told a packed courtroom that the decision to bring new charges in court against Evan Mawarire was unconstitutional.

Pastor Mawarire thanked the cheering supporters who had rallied throughout the day outside the court, singing and praying for his release.

However, the turn out and display in front of the court in Harare yesterday proved that Zimbabweans had no plans to give up on their demands, or on the man that showed them they could stand up to the government. “We are saying enough is enough to the Zanu PF government”, Lloyd Mazonde, the leading figure of the protest said, “Mugabe and his government have failed, they must step down and make way for others” The protesters met at the Grand Parade and started their march towards the Zimbabwean Consulate in Cape Town.

“Zimbabwe functions as an inefficiently repressive police state, and regime critics “disappear”, John Campbell, an analyst with the Council of Foreign Relations, said in a note Thursday.

The surge in demonstrations has revealed long-simmering frustration in a country where 90 percent of the population is not in formal employment.

However, a similar protest last week left the country’s cities deserted after civil servants had gone unpaid.

Regime loyalist Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is viewed as the most likely next leader, with Mugabe’s wife Grace, 50, also a possible candidate.

The previous presidential election in 2008 was marred by widespread violence and intimidation of voters.

Cape Town – Zimbabweans based in Cape Town has converged in the Mother City to protest at the Zimbabwean Consulate today against the failed government of Robert Mugabe.

Water cannons and riot police surrounded the Magistrates Court in Harare where dozens of activists wearing the national flag sang, chanted slogans and prayed in the street outside the building.