Former Cowdray Park Member of Parliament Pashor Sibanda was summoned by the police on Thursday in Bulawayo, accused of planning a demonstration.
Sibanda and other Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) youth taskforce members recently held a press conference in Bulawayo where they threatened to take their grievances to the streets if urgent electoral reforms are not implemented.
However, Sibanda told CITE that he was summoned for questioning following the press conference.
“So, the police have called me for questioning following the press conference that we held on the 12th of December. They allege that I am organising a demonstration in Bulawayo to be held tomorrow on the 22nd of December,” he said.
“However, on my press statement, I only said ‘we will flood the streets,’ we never spoke about the date and venue for our demonstrations.”
Sibanda emphasised that he is not responsible for any planned demonstration on Friday.
“I have since told them that I am not responsible for the 22nd December demonstration. If we are to do a demo, we will do it at an appropriate time and we will do it in terms of law,” he said.
He added that the police threatened to arrest him if there is a demonstration tomorrow.
“They said if there is a demo tomorrow, definitely they will arrest me. Basically, they want to pin me for tomorrow’s demo.”
Sibanda believes the authorities are trying to intimidate him and other activists to discourage them from speaking out against the government.
“These intimidations will not stop the people. They want to pin me for tomorrow’s demonstration which I did not plan,” he said.
