Executive Summary
ABOUT ZPP
The month of May stands out owing to violations
of the right to education, the right to food and civil
and political rights mainly freedom of association
and assembly. Most socio-economic violations that
were reported this month were largely due to
effects of the El-Nino induced drought, the
economy’s continued downward spiral, worsening
cash crisis and exacerbated lack of a diversified
export base.
The organisation was founded in 2000 by church-based and
human rights organisations. The current members of ZPP are
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), Zimbabwe Council
of Churches (ZCC), Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
in Zimbabwe (CCJPZ), Counselling Services Unit (CSU),
Habakkuk Trust, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association
(ZimRights), Civic Education Network Trust (CIVNET),
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Women’s
Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ).
ZPP was established with the objective of monitoring,
documenting and building peace and promoting the peaceful
resolution of disputes and conflicts. The peace project seeks to
foster dialogue and political tolerance through non-partisan
peace monitoring activities, mainly through monitors who
document the violations of rights in the provinces.
The monitors, who at full complement stand at 420, constitute
the core pool of volunteers, supported by three Regional
Coordinators. The Regional Coordinators relate with the
national office headed by the National Director and programme
officers in various units.
This May ZPP recorded the highest number of
incidences where pupils were sent away from
school for failure to pay school fees or clear the
previous term’s arrears. This was in contravention
of Section 75 of the Constitution which guarantees
the right to basic education. At the beginning of
the academic year, in January, ZPP recorded cases
where students’ results were withheld because
they owed fees. There were nine cases in
Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North, of pupils barred
from attending lessons because they had not yet
paid their fees. Such cases increased significantly
this month. All ten provinces were marred with
cases where children were denied their right to
education because their parents could not afford
to pay fees on time. At Nkanyezi Primary School in
Lobengula, Bulawayo, nine pupils were withdrawn
from Early Childhood Development (ECD) after
their parents failed to raise $64.
the 2018 elections campaign. Zanu PF is targeting
mobilising 100 000 youths per province.
In areas like Mudzi and Wedza in Mashonaland
East, people were coerced into contributing money
ranging from 50 cents to a dollar in order to ferry
supporters to the rally. This went against the will of
many people who support the party but could not
afford and those that do not support the party and
had no ambitions of attending the event. ZPP is in
possession of a list of teachers’ names from
Munamba Primary School in Murehwa District who
were forced to each contribute $1 towards
preparations for the rally. It’s a violation of
freedom of association to force people into
contributing funds for and or attending events of a
political party that they do not subscribe to.
The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education,
Lazarus Dokora, has previously said schools have
contracts with parents not children and therefore
children should not lose out on lessons because
parents have failed to fulfil contractual obligations.
Many families are reeling in the impacts of a
deteriorating economy.
Civil and political rights have been commonly
violated ahead of previous Zanu PF rallies like the
‘One Million Man March’ and First Lady Grace
Mugabe’s ‘Meet The People’ rallies. In 2016, ahead
of the ‘one million man march’ that was held in
Harare on 25 May, 88 incidences of harassment
and intimidation were reported and in the month
under review the figure dipped slightly to 82. Such
A remarkable number of human rights violations
where community members were forced to
contribute towards Zanu PF’s initial ‘Youth
interface rally’ in Marondera slated for 2 June. The
rallies to be held in all the ten provinces are a
platform for President Robert Mugabe to launch
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