Own Correspondent

JOHANNESBURG – A Zimbabwean women’s pressure group on Wednesday accused police of severely assaulting 56 of its members who were arrested on Monday for protesting against frequent power cuts in Harare. 

The demonstrators, who are members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) group, said they were made to lie on the floor at Harare central police station before they were assaulted by 12 police officers. 

The injured protesters, who included about 20 men, were receiving treatment at a private hospital in Harare. 

WOZA said its members were released late on Tuesday afternoon after paying admission of guilt fines. 

The pressure group has in the past two weeks led demonstrations, dubbed, “Power to the People” in the capital Harare and the second city of Bulawayo in protest over frequent power cuts in urban areas. 

Zimbabweans have grappled with frequent power cuts sometimes going for days on end without electricity as the state-run Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) rations the little power that is available. 

The shortage of power is just one on a long list of problems bedevilling Zimbabwe in its eighth year of an economic meltdown described by the World Bank as the worst in the world outside a war zone. 

The southern African country also has the world’s highest inflation rate of nearly 2 000 percent, skyrocketing unemployment, shortages of foreign currency, food, fuel, essential medicines and increasing poverty levels. - ZimOnline