HARARE – Prominent lawyer and opposition leader Professor Lovemore Madhuku was brutally beaten on Sunday after balaclava-wearing men stormed a meeting of his National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) party in Harare, with uniformed police officers looking on from two nearby vehicles without intervening.
Madhuku, who is currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in the capital, removed his shirt to show journalists a body scarred by blows from baton sticks.
“I just have pain all over, but I’m okay,” he said.
Madhuku described what unfolded: “We had called an NCA consultative meeting of the leadership from across the country and we were at our office. We wanted to look at the Constitutional Amendment No. 3 and we wanted to confirm our stance that we are opposed to it and we will do everything to stop it.
“The police was there for most of the time. The five or so guys came in with balaclavas and ordered everyone to leave. Then they came straight for me and started beating me up.
“They were shouting that ‘you want to create problems for us.’ They were beating me all over with baton sticks. The police were with them. There were two police vehicles there. The police did nothing. They just stayed seated there.”
In a statement, police said they were not involved in the incident.
“No police personnel were deployed to oversee or monitor the meeting in question. The ZRP is keen to know what actually transpired on the alleged attack on Professor Madhuku and his team,” national police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
The assault is the latest in an accelerating pattern of violence targeting those who oppose Constitutional Amendment No. 3 – legislation that would extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule by extending his term, which expires in 2028, through to 2030.
Critics say the ruling Zanu PF party is using intimidation to push through changes that would circumvent democratic limits on presidential power.
Madhuku has filed a Constitutional Court application on behalf of six war veterans seeking to halt the amendment process. The matter is pending.
Sunday’s attack follows a disturbing pattern targeting NCA members. Just days earlier, on February 26, two NCA members, Naboth Sirora and Innocent Taruona, were seized after leaving the NCA offices following a meeting on the same constitutional amendments.
They were reportedly blindfolded, taken to an unknown location, beaten, and later dumped without clothes in the upscale suburb of Highlands.
The NCA is not the only opposition group facing pressure. Police last month mobilised outside the offices of lawyer Tendai Biti, the former finance minister, who has established the Constitution Defenders Forum (CDF), which also opposes the planned amendments without a public referendum.
On February 17, CDF activist Baird Gore from Glen Norah was abducted from his home by armed men in an unmarked vehicle, blindfolded, driven away, and assaulted while being interrogated about the movement against the constitutional changes.
The Amendment Bill, approved by cabinet last month, proposes sweeping changes including repealing the section of the constitution that provides for the direct election of the president by voters, replacing it with a system in which the president is elected by Members of Parliament sitting jointly as well as extending presidential and parliamentary terms from five to seven years.
Rights activists warn the violence will only intensify as opposition parties and pro-democracy groups converge around resistance to the amendments.
Madhuku had vowed before Sunday’s attack to mobilise Zimbabweans into “massive protests,” saying: “You should expect to see me again in the streets. I’m able to do that and I will lead members of my party and I will join others who will be doing that.” – ZimLive