A Mthwakazi Republic Party leader claims that he was warned against stepping foot in Bulawayo’s central business district until after the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit, which ended yesterday.
MRP chairperson Mudenda Chilumbo said he received several chilling calls from unknown persons, who threatened to kill him if they ever saw him in the CBD.
Chilumbo said he started receiving the calls last Tuesday after it emerged that his group had organised a press conference at the Bulawayo Media Centre.
Scores of human rights activists are behind bars following their arrest on charges of plotting anti-government protests to disrupt the Sadc summit.
Critics accuse President Emmerson Mnangagwa of launching the crackdown to thwart any planned protests during the annual summit of 16 regional states.
Mnangagwa assumed the rotational chairmanship of Sadc during the summit after taking over from Angola.
Chilumbo told Southern Eye on Sunday from his hide-out that members of the Bulawayo Media Centre were also warned against hosting the MRP team.
He described the development as a violation of their freedom of association, expression, press and democracy.
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"I was barred from conducting a press conference which I was supposed to address on Tuesday,” Chilumbo said.
“There were anonymous callers, who barred me from conducting the conference or entering the CBD from Tuesday until August 20.
"They told me that they got orders to shoot to kill if I am seen in the CBD.
“I feel that I am not safe at all and these threats must be made known to the world and because of these threats, we were not able to go ahead with the conference, it became difficult for us to proceed with it."
He said he had not made any police report after receiving the threats.
"I did not make any police report but I suspect that they are security agents, and the fact that they also intimidated the journalists means that if I make a police report, I will be reporting to the same office," Chilumbo said.
Bulawayo Media Centre chairperson Pamenus Tuso said they told the MRP members that it was not safe for them to hold the press conference at the venue as security agents were frequenting the centre on a daily basis for unknown reasons.
"We said let’s just wait until after the Sadc summit is over,” Tuso said.
Last week, the United Nations rights office said authorities must immediately release over 100 pro-democracy activists arrested in the run-up to the Sadc summit.
“We are concerned by reports of arrests, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and political activists in the lead up to the Sadc summit,” the UN Human Rights Commission said in a statement.
