Reflecting the currently tense Zimbabwean political environment, riot police this week shut down a Harare lecture on the global financial crisis that was sponsored by the Movement for Democratic Change formation headed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Ibbo Mandaza of the Southern Africa Political Economy Series Trust, or SAPES Trust, and South African academic Patrick Bond, of the Center for Civil Society at the University of Kwazulu Natal, were set to begin a discussion when police ended the hotel event.
Bond said police outlawed the meeting even though they had been notified in advance. He said plans are being made to reschedule the lecture some time next week.
Charles Mangongera, director of policy and research for the Tsvangirai MDC, who was to chair the discussion, commented that there is a worrisome level of paranoia in ZANU-PF whereby even intellectual discussions are suspect and repressed.