On 6 October 2026, police blocked a church-led national prayer meeting scheduled for Harare Gardens. The gathering was convened by Bishop Ancelimo Magaya and Zimbabwe Divine Destiny as an interdenominational prayer for peace, justice and progress. NewsDay reported that police prevented the event from proceeding. Sungano yeVanhu–Ubumbano Lomphakathi, which had endorsed the prayer, condemned the intervention as a restriction on civic and religious space. On 5 October 2026, Constitution Defenders Forum youth chairperson Narshon T. Kohlo was also reportedly arrested and held at Budiriro 2 Police Station after participating in organising the prayer. Amnesty International Zimbabwe later reported that he had been released, while describing the arrest as arbitrary. The police have not publicly clarified the legal basis for blocking the gathering or any charge against Kohlo. The incident matters because it combines preventive disruption of a peaceful faith-based gathering with the detention of a civil-society organiser.
