February 2018
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
former president is reported to have broken his
silence since November and claimed that his
family is being ill-treated by the new
administration. The tensions among citizens at the
local level are increasing and might to come to a
head in the run up to the elections as some citizens
report the deployment of the military, a situation
similar to that of 2008 when gross acts of violence
were perpetrated.
disproportionate force used by police to disperse
protesters in Harare as a result of poor
coordination and messaging between government
and the Harare city council. Despite government
cancelling its earlier 48 hour ultimatum to remove
public transport operators and vendors from
Harare’s CBD, the Harare city council announced
another directive and through the police went
ahead with the operations leading to resistance by
operators. The ministry of Local Government,
Public Works and National Housing eventually
issued a statement halting the clearing of the CBD
of public transport operators. An increase in the
number of assault cases is very worrying and is
pointing towards a potentially bloody 2018
election putting the free, fair and credible
elections mantra at risk. All along the minimum
violations were intimidation and harassment but
this month there are recorded cases of physical
assault and sadly fatalities.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A decrease of about 30% in the total number of
violations recorded in February has been noted
from 245 violations to 176 violations. The
decrease is deceiving, as it points towards an
environment of calm as the country approaches
elections but beyond the numbers there is much
more.
In previous months, the harassment and
intimidation connected to demanding of serial
numbers during the Biometric Voter Registration
(BVR) exercise resulted in an increase in
violations particularly in rural communities.
However, the public condemnations of the
practice by ZEC and Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) as well as two publicized arrests have seen
the violations decreasing sharply.
The increase in physical confrontations fuelled by
internal party contradictions is not a good
indicator for the coming elections and moreso as
political parties are expected to have primary
elections in the next few months. The mooted
MDC Alliance for example means candidates may
be imposed and others asked to give way and this
may fuel conflict. There were 17 intra-party
violations all centred on the succession disputes
within the MDC-T and power tussles within Zanu
PF.
February recorded a decrease in harassment and
intimidation cases to 118 violations, followed by a
decrease in discrimination cases recording 20
violations. The month also witnessed an incident
where murder was perpetrated in Harare.
Manicaland had the highest recorded violations
with 34, followed by Mashonaland Central with
29, and Midlands with 28.
Zanu PF was responsible for close to 46% of the
violations mainly because of demanding of serial
numbers, victimisation of G40 members and
marginally harassing of opposition party
supporters. The MDC-T was responsible for close
to 28% of the violations mainly attributed to the
succession disputes in the party. There was an
occasional harassing of Zanu PF supporters. Both
parties were responsible for hate language, which
is breeding ground for conflicts at the local level.
Intimidation and/or harassment cases have been
high in Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland and
Mashonaland Central. Cases of murder were
recorded and these were attributed to the
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