Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) South African chapter vice secretary, Milton “Godonga elihle” Mahlangu, has defended party youths based in that country after they removed the Zimbabwean flag and replaced it with their party’s flag.
On May 31st this year, MRP youths stormed the Zimbabwean Embassy in South Africa and removed the country’s flag replacing it with their own party flag in protest of the continued detention of nine of their party activists who are commonly known as the MRP9.
The nine were arrested for public violence after they stormed Bulawayo Central in Police Station last April demonstrating over the alleged harassment of their party leader, Mqondisi Moyo, by state security agents.
In a recent interview with CITE after a party rally in Khame Business Centre in Bulilima, Mahlangu said the youths were “just fighting for their rights”
“The youths who replaced the Zimbabwean flag and replaced it with ours were just fighting for their rights. The decision by the government to arrest our nine members in the first place was a bid to silence us as Mthwakazi.
We are really not happy and un-amused and we are letting the Zimbabwean government know that we are watching their every move and we will do whatever it takes for our members to be free,” Mahlangu said
Days after, MRP9 members were jailed for at most three years, with seven members being jailed for 33 months while the remaining two were caged for 36 months. All of them are locked up at Khami Maximum Prison.
The sentence came a day after Bulawayo magistrate Tavengwa Sangster had ordered them to perform community service before he reversed his decision following “a mix up of papers”.
Mahlangu also said the party filed an appeal at the High Court and they were waiting for a response so that they could decide what to do next.
