The ‘Hope of The Nation’ address which was scheduled to be delivered by Nelson Chamisa the leader of the opposition in Zimbabwe, was reportedly blocked by the police.
The address which was set for the 15th of January 2020 did not take place as planned as police are said to have blocked it.
Chamisa took to twitter to vent out his frustrations following the ban promising to deliver his address at a later date.
“Enough is enough, we have exhausted all channels. We can’t continue to be victims of unjust application of the law. Rights are for all. On Tuesday 21 January we will deliver the people’s Agenda 2020 to the nation come what may”
Speaking to Report Focus News, Chamisa’s spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda said
“The Zimbabwe government has banned the MDC by putting in place and enforcing unconstitutional regulations and laws that prevent the MDC President Advocate Nelson Chamisa from addressing any public meetings. Meanwhile, President Chamisa and the Party feel that it is improper and it sets a bad precedent and threatens democracy to allow the few to stop us from exercising our constitutional rights.
So the MDC will continue with the national address planned and banned by the police for today, and now postponed to the 21st of January 2020.”
Asked to expound on the specific of the unconstitutional regulations and laws that are impeding upon the MDC? Doctor Nkululeko Sibanda said, “Any and all laws that are Unconstitutional should not be observed by self respecting people, who love their country and rever its legal premise. The spirit of the constitution is to allow the freedoms of speech and association, only subjecting them to a dual responsibility to respect the same rights for others. A law that places the police or the state’s fear of public protests defeats the very purpose of the constitutional Bill. The Constitution envisages the people’s rights to challenge a government on the streets and allows it, no matter how large or detrimental to a seating government such protests would be.”
Interestingly the on the same day that the police banned the MDC leader from delivering his address to the nation the permanent secretary for information and publicity Nick Mangwana posted this on his Twitter microblog.
“We have Sanctions review around the corner. We have Davos on the horizon. Chirega uone maDrama aya otanga. Who do you think is going to do what to bring a negative spotlight on Zimbabwe?”
