Zimbabwe Grounds
Zimbabwe Grounds is a stadium in the suburb of Highfields in Harare. It is most known for having hosted the largest political rally in Zimbabwe when Robert Mugabe came to the country to address people on Sunday January 27, 1980. The stadium is used for soccer matches ,cricket games and church gatherings.It is surrounded by Old Highfield section on the greater part and share borders with Takashinga cricket ground (home ground of Andy Flower and Tatenda Taibu), Zimbabwe Hall, Highfield Library, a Nursery School, Anglican Church and Chipembere Primary School annexe. The grounds are within a stone's throw of Gwanzura football stadium.
Zanu-PF ,1980 Rally
On the eve of Zimbabwe's independence its presidential aspirant Robert Mugabe addressed party supporters. The crowd was estimated at 1,6 million by the Zanu-PF information and publicity department, 200,000 by the BBC, 150,000 by the Rhodesian police, and 1 million "with a safety margin of 25 percent" by people who said they arrived at the figure by enlarging aerial photographs and calculating crowd density.
2007 political violence
The Zimbabwe Grounds were the scene of widespread chaos and violence on March 11, 2007. This occurred after opposition members, church members, national constitutional members, and the general public gathered for a 'prayer meeting, to protest against the death of democracy and general hardships in Zimbabwe' The government of Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe viewed this gathering as a severe case of civil disobedience. It perceived this gathering as pilot for a 'revolution'. The government responded with a heavy hand in their efforts to disperse the gatherers. This clashes resulted in the fatal shooting of Gift Tandare an MDC-Tactivist as police resorted to using live ammunition against the masses.
2022 CCC Rally
Zimbabwe Grounds was the venue of the inaugural rally of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) on 20 February 2022. CCC had been formed earlier that year following a dispute for the MDC name and brand with the Douglas Mwonzora led MDC-T.
There was heavy police presence on the roads leading into the city from residential suburbs. The ZRP set up roadblocks apparently to block CCC supporters from attending the rally.
