Commander of Zanla in row at hotel

Herald 1 May 1980
ZANLA Commander Rex Nhongo was arrested, but later released on Tuesday evening after a row at a Salisbury hotel over a rule that requires ties to be worn.

Commander Nhongo and three others were released by a police superintendent after nearly four hours at Salisbury Central Police Station.

This followed the intervention of the Prime Minister Mr Mugabe, who had sent the Minister of State in his office, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa to the station to secure the release of Mr Nhongo and three others including a Zanu (PF) official from Zambia, Mr Elisha Mazhandu, who had been arrested with him.

The incident began when the Zanla Commander and Mr Mazhandu defied the hotel management’s orders to leave a tie-only restaurant where they wanted to dine because they did not have ties.

Mr Nhongo insisted that the “Safari suit” he was wearing was the equivalent of a “western suit with a tie” and that his guest who was wearing shirt sleeves was just a visitor.

A heated row ensued and there was an altercation after which a hotel management official phoned the police.

The row continued outside the hotel as the police were trying to handcuff the former guerrilla leader and push him into a waiting B-car. Tempers flared and some policemen drew guns.

At the police station, the officer who took charge of the situation was told by Mr Mnangagwa that the Prime Minister would discuss the matter with the Police Commissioner, Mr P. K. Allum.

Mr Mnangagwa said he was intervening on the orders of President Banana and the Prime Minister.

Mr Nhongo complained bitterly about his arrest and said: “We did not cause any trouble. All we wanted was to eat peacefully. This is a test case.

“It shows that some people are not interested in the reconciliatory spirit we are talking about. If that can happen to me, what about the ordinary Zimbabwean? The reconciliation is one-sided.”

He said that he was going to ensure that “this case does not end here”.

The police conducted breathalyser tests on Mr Nhongo and the others “merely to determine their state of rationality at the time of the incident,” according to the police superintendent.

Mr Mnangagwa and Mr Nhongo gave their approval for the tests to be conducted. No comment was available yesterday from the police.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

Barely a month after the declaration of Independence on April 18, military Commander Rex Nhongo (General Solomon Mujuru) was arrested over a frivolous charge. He was right to say that reconciliation was a one-sided affair and ordinary people would be more disadvantaged.

It’s not that those who arrested him did not know who he was. They wanted to humiliate him, considering that whites still controlled major State institutions. This was abuse of power.

Dress code in hotels is no longer an issue unless the function one is attending specifies specific dressing. Smart and casual is the norm in a majority of cases.

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