Veteran Zimbabwean investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono says President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s regime has gone a gear up in trying to stop protests ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit.
He says Mnangagwa and his regime have become fully paranoid and are now confiscating printing machines and computers, accusing printing businesses of producing flyers encouraging protests.
Below is one of the warrants issued by the captured judiciary, authorising Mnangagwa’s police force to confiscate printing machines, desktop and laptop computers from JivE Studios, a printing shop owned by Givemore Makandire.
They even took his cellphones!
This is a clear infringement on the rights of business owners and a sign of the government’s paranoia and suppression of dissent.
Printing businesses are being targeted to prevent any materials about protests from being produced.
Even Mobutu Sese Seko or Idi Amin never sank this low!
Mnangagwa has intensified his efforts to suppress fundamental freedoms, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.
This crackdown is linked to the upcoming SADC summit in Harare and Mnangagwa’s assumption of the SADC chairmanship.
Human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have called on the Zimbabwean government to end this massive crackdown on dissent and release all arbitrarily detained individuals.
The Catholic Church also issued a letter calling on the Zimbabwean tyrant to stop what he is doing and to allow citizens to demonstrate!
He has jailed hundreds of pro-democracy activists without bail and is using abductions, arbitrary arrests, and torture to instill fear in citizens!
Zwnews