Assembly

The appellant was a duly elected Member of Parliament for the Makokoba Constituency in Bulawayo at the time of the incident that led to this appeal. She represented the Movement for Democratic Change, an opposition political party in Zimbabwe. When new constituency boundaries were announced in preparation for the general elections, the appellant called for a meeting of her constituents. More than eighty people from various wards of her constituency attended the meeting. Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police arrived, broke up the meeting and arrested the appellant.

This was an urgent application seeking a provisional order prohibiting the respondents (the police) from interfering with the applicant’s (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’) public gathering.

The first respondent, in the company of people alleged to be members of the second respondent (a pressure group which had as some of its goals, “to protect indigenous business and this includes defaulting tenants), went to applicant’s (an estate agency in the business of managing immovable properties on behalf of landlords or property owners) premises. The second respondent was escorted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police details. They also made denouncing remarks.