EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Raining Bullets
Christmas Day of 2021 was generally rainy across Zimbabwe, but that may not
have deterred many citizens from following the long-held tradition of
celebrating the occasion.
Such callousness…
Police enforcing a government
COVID19 curfew in Chivhu
unleashed dogs and Darlington
Manjokota (28) was not so lucky.
A police dog savaged his arm and
he was admitted to Chivhu
Hospital. He is still healing
For Zimbabwe, the day has ceased to
be just about the birth of Christ; it has
become an opportunity for people to
travel to meet with family and friends
to celebrate the end of the year.
Despite the deep economic challenges
the country is going through,
Zimbabweans often save for this
holiday in order to be part of the
festivities.
It is therefore such a tragedy that on
this day, five people die in
circumstances that could have been
avoided.
A soldier reportedly discharged his
fire arm and killed five people as three
other people sustained injuries at
Wanganui Growth Point in MhonhoroNgezi.
This is just one of the many cases
where security forces have been
implicated in public shootings,
robberies, murder and other criminal
activities, a trend that increased in
December, raising alarm over the
guarantee of security of ordinary
citizens in the country.
While the Zimbabwe Defence Forces
(ZDF) said it was concerned over the
increased involvement of members of
the army in criminal activities, the
institution did not take responsibility
of providing a concrete plan to deal
with the issue, with Brigadier-General
Augustine Chipwere only appealing to
the public to report “rogue” soldiers.
In the same vein, there was an increase
in the prevalence of police brutality
between 22 December 2021 and 2
January 2022 as police deployed to
enforce COVID-19 regulations did so
with contempt for the law.