Police arrest CCC members over unsanctioned gathering

Crime Reporter 

AT least 70 CCC members were arrested yesterday for conducting an unsanctioned gathering at a house belonging to former opposition legislator, Jameson Timba, in Harare.

The suspects were arrested by police from Avondale Police Station, who called for reinforcements after the suspects became violent, throwing stones at the officers in a bid to resist arrest.

National police spokesperson, Commissioner Paul Nyathi, confirmed the arrests.

“I can confirm that 70 suspects were arrested at Jameson Timba’s house in Harare for conducting an unsanctioned gathering.

“Police, who were acting on a tip-off, raided the house, leading to the arrests. During the arrests, they became violent and started throwing stones at the police officers.

“Reinforcements were later called in. We will, however, release more details tomorrow (today),” he said.

Mr Timba is leading a faction of the CCC that is aligned to former party leader Mr Nelson Chamisa.

The CCC now has split into two, with the main faction aligned to the party’s interim secretary general, Senator Sengezo Tshabangu.

Sen Tshabangu stunned Mr Chamisa and his followers when he took advantage of the lack of structures in CCC to declare himself the interim secretary general, and fired dozens of legislators who were sympathetic to Mr Chamisa.

By-elections were called and the bulk of them were won by Zanu PF, handing the party a wide majority in Parliament.

Local opposition parties have a huge appetite for resolving issues through demonstrations, while in some cases the protests would be calculated to tarnish the country’s image, especially ahead of major regional, continental and international events such as the SADC Summit that will be hosted in Zimbabwe in August.

Security officials have since realised that and tend to just ignore them, when the protests are not expected to turn violent.