Zimbabwe opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai and several top aides were detained by police on Wednesday while charities were told to stop work as authorities intensified a crackdown ahead of a run-off poll.

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iafrica.com Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in the 27 June vote, was stopped by police while driving in the Lupane area of southwest Zimbabwe and held for so me two hours before being taken to a police station, his party said. The reason for his detention, along with the party's deputy leader Thokozani Khupe and chairman Lovemore Moyo, was not immediately clear, with no comment from the police themselves. "He has been taken into a charge office in Lupane," chief spokesperson for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Nelson Chamisa told AFP by phone from the police station. "The police just said our bosses want to see you," he added. Tsvangirai has been arrested on a number of occasions and twice been charged with treason. He suffered head injuries in March last year after being assaulted by security forces as he tried to stage an anti-government rally in the capital Harare.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been released by police after being detained for about eight hours, his spokesman has said.[quote]

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BBC Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been released by police after being detained for about eight hours, his spokesman has said. He was released without charge. George Sibotshiwe said police had taken an armoured car from the Movement for Democratic Change leader. Mr Tsvangirai was detained as his convoy was going through a Police accused Mr Tvsangirai of violating public security. The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says his detention is part of an increasing campaign of political intimidation ahead of the vote.

Tsvangirai's arrest, the firing of staff at ZBC, the violence in the rural areas - all this forms part of a larger plan by the security establoihsment, Mugabe and ZANU-PF to keep the MDC on its backfoot, harass its organisers, interrupt campaigning where and when possible to the maximum extent, intimdate and brutalise the rural electorate and - this is the ultimate aim - miraculously reverse Mugabe's election defeat in the first round and thus ensure victory in the second round. Over the years Mugabe and ZANU-PF have become good at this.... I remain hopeful they won't get away with it again......

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"Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism." - James Luther Adams:

Dear Friends,

I am supposed to be pretty rational about events in our region; someone not lead up the garden path very quickly by any rumours of this and that. I freely admit, though, that this time even I am puzzled. Who is lying and to what extent are they lying? Is anyone speaking the truth? Is our neighbour heading for an Armageddon? Is Zimbabwe about to become the seventh heaven?

Please, help me decide ............

Scenario No.1


Scenario No. 2

Brilliant question, Oneword, the answer to which I think we will indeed find difficult to get to the bottom to unless we had the chance to be there at the time and the place to actually witness what happened.

Life being what it is, I believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Tsvangirai and his entourage were most probably stopped and harassed and detained, but it is also quite possible that the MDC is using the incident to milk it for what its worth from a propaganda point-of-view. SO he may have only been detained for a couple of hours, and maybe even treated respectfulyl by the police officers - after all, many of them sympathise with him (believe it or not).

I think anyone who believes that the MDC does not engage in propaganda and twisting the truth to suit its ends at times is naive. One thing that seems pretty obivous to me, though, is that for the ZANU-PF regime much more is at stake, namely the complete loss of power. They have already lost Parliament and were set to lose the Presidency. They also have a clear history of creating fabrications and blatant propaganda, so I tend to give the MDC version the benefit of doubt - where I can.

I also think that when the big news agencies like Reuters and AFP report that Mbeki had to intervene to get Tsvangirai released there is a good chance that this did indeed happen. They do check their sources and have an ear to the ground. Factual reporting is their bread and butter, and it has to be reliable. Of course the agencies also get it wrong at times, but they usually correct thier mistakes very quickly. I tend to check what Reuters, AFP and smaller agencies report and compare the facts. This is how AFP reported the intervention, and there is no reason to believe it not to be true:

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"Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism." - James Luther Adams:

I salute Helen Zille for speaking out on the Zimbabwe issue and calling on Mbeki to do the same. It is indeed high time that SOuth Africa's President steps up to the plate and fulfills his obligations as a neutral faciliator in the crisis, and stops protecting Mugabe and ZANU-PF. It is a disgrace for South Africa to take the side of oppression, violence and intidimation, as opposed to supporting the voices of reason, peace, progress and democracy in Zimbabwe:

Here is her full letter on our Shebeen: An open letter to President Mbeki: Speak out on Zimbabwe before it is too late

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"Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism." - James Luther Adams:

To be fair to the South Africans, the ANC seems to be raising its volume. Now, of course Mbeki himself has not taken the bold step of calling Mugabe and ZANU publicly to order, but at least his party is starting to. As it should, mind you.

Uncle Paul,

I agree to some extent, but, on the other hand, if you see what Mad Bob has done again, the volume should be turned way up!

From today's (Saturday) Herald:


Now, what would you rather do? Use some of those useless billions to buy essential, but nearly non-existing food or buy a newspaper?

Right! I thought so. De Facto cutting the Zimbabweans off from everything that is news ... except for the "imaginative"reporting of the Herald and its equally horrid kith and kind.