David Coltart - ZANU-PF silences “Constitutional Coup” opponent with harsh bail conditions…

Zimbabwe opposition leader Tendai Biti has been handed harsh bail conditions after spending the past weekend in custody. In this interview, David Coltart, the Mayor of Bulawayo and a former Cabinet Minister, tells Chris Steyn that Biti’s arrest was contrived to punish him for opposing proposed constitutional amendments that would extend the terms of office of the president and parliamentarians by two years, while his bail conditions will ensure that he contributes no further to the debate. “It's a very grim prospect that we face in the country because, in essence, what we are seeing is a Constitutional coup. I think that ZANU-PF has looked at what has happened in Tanzania and Uganda and the fall-out of such violent elections. And they've decided just to avoid elections, quite frankly, for another two years. And if they extend now by a further two years, what's to stop them just extending their terms even further beyond that?”

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