Editorial Zimbabwe plumbs the depths with police brutality towards children

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How low can we go? We condemn in the strongest of terms the arrest and torture of minors by the police in Bulawayo last week. 26 minors and 13 babies were kept in police custody with the nearly 200 WOZA activists for protesting against the monetary reforms.

Although the mothers with babies and the children were allowed to go home each evening, they had to report back each morning and spend the day with the others at the police station.

During that time some of the children were assaulted with broomsticks and batons, according to WOZA coordinators Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu. We have no reason to doubt their word. They said the officers were trying to extract information about how WOZA mobilised, and were not satisfied until the terrified youths 'confessed' to fabricated information.

In a society where traditionally the welfare of the children is a sacred responsibility entrusted to the entire community, such behaviour by the police is beyond belief. More than anything, this despicable incident is a barometer of just how far the Mugabe regime has succeeded in debasing ordinary Zimbabweans.

Surely the cops who perpetrated this outrage are themselves fathers, uncles or brothers who have been raised to respect the cultural norms of our society. What on earth could have happened to them to cause them to behave in such an appalling manner?

Zimbabwe is a signatory to the UN declaration on the protection of children. This is just another example of Mugabe regime paying lip service to UN and other international charters and treaties, to which they have no intention whatsoever of adhering.

The raft of unconstitutional legislation – POSA, AIPPA and the new outrageously draconian Criminal Procedures and Evidence Act – are all in direct contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grants human beings, by their virtue of being human, fundamental rights such as freedoms of assembly, choice and association.