Organisers of a prayer meeting intended for Sunday at the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, Harare, have suspended it after being told by the police at Southerton Police Station that the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai has also booked the same venue at the same time for the same purpose.
President of the Zimbabwe Pastors’ Fellowship Reverand, Watson Furayi, said as pastors they didn’t want the rally to be seen as a political event though they had invited all the political parties in the country to attend, but not to lead the program.
Rev. Furayi told Studio 7 the meeting was intended to pray for many issues affecting the country, including political activist missing activist, Itai Dzamara, who was allegedly abducted more than three months ago.
“We have more than 50 things to pray for on our agenda, and on top of them all is Itai Dzamara. We intend to pray for HIV/AIDS the economy, among other issues,” said Reverend Furayi.
But MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu said his party had already withdrawn its request to hold the prayer meeting, so there was no need for the police to deny the pastors the permission to go ahead.
“The confusion really was, I believe, the creation of the police, a deliberate creation of the police. We have as a party formally withdrew our notification in terms of POSA (Public Order and Security Act,” said Gutu.