Another Zim veterans leader arrested in crackdown

Zimbabwean police have arrested Victor Matemadanda, the second veterans official detained in a crackdown on the association's leaders.

Harare - Zimbabwe police on Monday arrested a leading official of the veterans association as he stepped out of a courthouse where a colleague was answering charges of insulting the president.

Victor Matemadanda, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, was the second official detained in a crackdown on the association's leaders.

The once-loyal supporters of President Robert Mugabe last month turned on him, issuing a harshly worded statement describing him as “dictatorial.” The veterans of the southern African country's 1970s war of independence from white rule had long been quick to defend Mugabe, even with violence.

Mugabe responded by vowing “severe” punishment for those behind the statement. The association's spokesman, Douglas Mahiya, has been in detention since Wednesday.

Matemadanda faces the same charge as Mahiya, insulting or undermining the authority of the president, said Irene Petras, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. The nonprofit organisation has been providing lawyers for the arrested veterans.

Police had a heavy presence at the courthouse Monday, forming a human chain to block the entrance. Scores of veterans gathered, singing wartime songs. Others cried and admonished the police, accusing them of doing no better than the white government they once fought.

Protests have become a near-daily occurrence in the capital, Harare, and other cities as frustrations grow over a rapidly deteriorating economy and rising political tensions.

Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the tensions are not likely to result in any immediate political changes as the 92-year-old Mugabe might hold on a little longer, but he warned that the free-falling economy could be the president's Achilles heel.

AP