The Battle To Bring Democracy To Zimbabwe: Fadzayi Mahere

By Advocate Fadzayi Mahere Two years ago, I woke up in an overcrowded jail cell in Zimbabwe's maximum security prison. No water, no toilet, no underwear, no dignity, and no rights. Inmates ate watery porridge with their bare hands because spoons are not allowed. Before lights out, we had to line up in queues for roll call. Group ABC and D. D was for dangerous. And even though the other women there had committed crimes such as murder armed robbery and infanticide, I alone was put in the dangerous group. I had committed the dangerous crime of tweeting. Tweeting against police brutality. Local police had been captured on camera, smashing a baton stick into the windshield of a small public transport bus. In the video that went viral online, stood a woman crying and grabbing the policeman by his collar. She was surrounded by a mob of people yelling that the policeman had killed the baby. The baby lay motionless and pale in the woman's arms. And by all accounts published online, the baby had died.