Tsvangirai was never arrested - Zim police
brian | 09.06.2008 00:56 | Social Struggles
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:37:00 +0000
ZIMBABWE police have dismissed as false claims by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party that their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and detained in Lupane, Bulawayo on Wednesday afternoon.
Floyd Nkomo
ZIMBABWE police have dismissed as false claims by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party that their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and detained in Lupane, Bulawayo on Wednesday afternoon.
Almost every major western media orgfanisation reported that the MDC-T leader had been ‘arrested’ and detained for nine hours.
MDC-T spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the arrest was a blatant attempt to sabotage the opposition party's campaign.
"Campaigning has become a nightmare for us. It appears they want to disrupt our campaign programme,” he said.
Chief police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday issuede a statement saying said Tsvangirai’s convoy of four cars was stopped at a routine roadblock in Lupane and it was discovered that one of the vehicles did not have proper registration.
The vehicle was South African-registered and the driver failed to produce the relevant papers to show that the car was in Zimbabwe legally, according to Bvudzijena.
The driver was asked to accompany the police officers to the nearest police station whereupon Tsvangirai’s entire convoy, which had been cleared to proceed, decided to follow the driver.
"He (the driver) produced photocopies of documents, yet the legal requirement is to produce original documents.
"The driver was subsequently asked to accompany the police to the nearest police station and the whole convoy decided to escort him.
"The driver was interviewed at the station after which the car was impounded and everyone left the police station. No one was ever arrested or detained.
"We are keeping the vehicle until we can verify how and where it entered the country," Asst Comm Bvudzijena said.
Bvudzijena said where there is reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, the police will not hesitate to investigate, whether that involves the MDC-T party or not.
Tsvangirai spokesperson George Sibotshiwe seemed to confirm that this was not an arrest. He said Tsvangirai’s motorcade was extensively searched by police, after which they told him and his officials to wait in their vehicles pending the arrival of a senior police officer.
The MDC-T did not issue any other statement yesterday after they left the police station.
http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/117/ARTICLE/2622/2008-06-06.html
brian
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