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Roadblock arrests pre-planned — MDC-T

Politics
The MDC-T has claimed the police had pre-planned who they wanted to arrest when they mounted a roadblock in Matabeleland North, where three MDC-T officials were picked up last week. In a statement, the MDC-T said the three — Sengezo Tshabangu, Matabeleland North provincial chairperson, his deputy Abednico Bhebhe and Hwange Central MP Brian Tshuma […]

The MDC-T has claimed the police had pre-planned who they wanted to arrest when they mounted a roadblock in Matabeleland North, where three MDC-T officials were picked up last week.

In a statement, the MDC-T said the three — Sengezo Tshabangu, Matabeleland North provincial chairperson, his deputy Abednico Bhebhe and Hwange Central MP Brian Tshuma — were arrested at the roadblock and taken to Hwange Police Station where they were detained for over 10 hours.

“The three, who were driving in two cars, were stopped at a roadblock and the police officers manning the roadblock said they wanted to verify with the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) whether the vehicles were stolen or not,” said the MDC-T. “The officials were on their way to a provincial meeting which had to be cancelled due to the detention.”

One of the three arrested officials, Tshabangu, revealed they suspected the whole incident was a set-up.

“What surprised us was that the police officers manning the roadblock had names of people who had to be stopped and searched. We stayed there late into the night and when we contacted the CVR they said the police had never phoned them on such a matter and we immediately knew it was a set-up,” said Tshabangu.

Police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka declined to comment referring all questions to the officer commanding police in Matabeleland North province, Senior Assistant Commissioner Edmore Veterai.

Repeated efforts to contact Veterai yesterday were fruitless.