Update Wednesday 20th Jan – 10am:

It has emerged that Tabitha Taona was released last night under unclear circumstances. She is at home and is in good spirits.

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Update Tuesday 19th Jan – 5pm:

Thabita Taona is set to spend another night in Harare Central Police Station as Law and Order officers refuse to assign an Investigating Officer to the case. Until an Investigating Officer is assigned, charges cannot be formally brought against her. Attempts by lawyers to have the case against her speedily dealt with have come to nothing as police are obviously engaged in delaying tactics. She has been allowed to see her lawyer and has received the food brought to her. She has also been interrogated extensively about who was in the demonstration.

The man caught ‘in the cross-fire’, Comfort Nyakura, was released last night after his employer confirmed that he had been at work at the time of the demonstration and was merely on his lunch break.

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Update Monday 18th Jan – 6pm:

A woman, Thabita Taona, and man, Comfort Nyakura, arrested earlier today after a peaceful protest to the Minister of Education, will spend the night in custody at Harare Central Police Station. Nyakura was arrested after taking a photograph of the demonstration with the camera on his mobile phone. The third person arrested, journalist Andrison Manyere, was released earlier this afternoon with a caution. Lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) are in attendance. It is unclear at this stage what the two will be charged with.

It is not the first time that WOZA members have been arrested for asking for a better education for their children. The last time WOZA protested peacefully at the Ministry of Education in February 2009, they were brutally beaten by riot police and five members arrested. Nor is it the first time that a bystander has been arrested for merely observing a WOZA demonstration.

As with the demonstration in Bulawayo last week, the peaceful protestors received great encouragement from bystanders, both along the route and outside the Ministry. In fact, it is believed that Ministry officials were on their way to join the demonstration when the riot police arrived. Even the soldiers outside the Ministry of Defence next door to the Ministry of Education were vocal in their encouragement to the demonstrators. As the group sang ‘tinoda dzidzo‘ (we want education), bystanders were overheard congratulating the WOZA members for speaking out about this issue that is close to the heart of every Zimbabwean.

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Members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise marched to the Ministry of Education in Harare at noon today to hand over their report on the education system in Zimbabwe entitled – Looking Back to Look Forward. The report covers recommendations and a list of demands that parents want addressed by the Minister of Education, Senator David Coltart. Police interrupted the peaceful demonstration, arresting three people, a woman and two men. One of the men is an accredited journalist that was covering the march. At the time of this release, riot police were still actively stopping any group of people walking together in central Harare and interrogating them.

As is standard WOZA practice, three separate demonstrations started simultaneously and converged on the Ministry of Education offices. Two of the groups, approximately 250 people, managed to reach the Ministry offices; the third demonstration was broken up by riot police before it could arrive at the Ministry. It is still unclear how many people, if any, were arrested during this process.

On arrival at the Ministry, a small delegation went to meet with the Minister, Senator David Coltart, to give him a copy of the report. Before he could come downstairs to address the peaceful group outside, a truckload of riot police arrived, beating their baton sticks on their shields. The journalist and the man were arrested at this point and the rest of the group dispersed. The woman who is currently under arrest was arrested near Parliament, over a block away from the Ministry of Education.

The full text of the report on education can be found below as can the text of the newsletter the protestors were marching with.