Were Zimbabwe police right to ban the CCC rally in Marondera?

How does this law compare with laws elsewhere?

The MOPA borrows heavily from South Africa’s Regulation of Gatherings Act, to the extent that sections of the two laws are similar, almost word-for-word.

The South African law also requires conveners of public gatherings to give the police advance notice; seven days in for marches or demonstrations, and five days for public meetings such as rallies.

However, a major difference is that, in 2018, South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to criminalise the failure to give notice of a gathering. The court found that this sort of penalty unfairly punishes both the convenors and the participants.

In the UK, under the Public Order Act, organisers of marches must give notice to police. Organisers can be arrested for marching without a notice or for changing the terms of the notice, such as gathering at a different time than they notified. Police can also ban gatherings if they have reason to think they may turn violent.

Are these laws constitutional?

While MOPA is similar in many respects to laws elsewhere, including South Africa and the UK, critics point out that police in Zimbabwe apply the law unevenly, frequently shutting down opposition rallies while allowing ruling ZANU PF gatherings to go ahead undisturbed.

While South African police have previously shut down some protests, opposition parties there are free to organise.

Legal experts also say ZRP’s reasons for banning opposition protests do not meet the thresholds demanded by the Constitution. According to legal experts Veritas, limits on public gatherings must only be necessary.

“While laws may limit the freedoms, the limitations must be ‘fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society’ [section 86 of the Constitution]. Note that word ‘necessary’:  it is not enough for a limitation to be reasonable or justifiable ‒ it must be necessary in a democratic society.  If it is not, it is unconstitutional,” Veritas says in a note on MOPA.- Zimfact

https://zimfact.org/fact-sheet-zrp-the-law-and-your-right-to-gather-what-the-law-says/

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