Executive Summary
MARCH reports, as has been the case in recent months, show a changing victim profile.
While in the past victims were almost homogenously members of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC-T) and a sprinkling of Zanu-PF, in recent months this has altered
showing significant numbers of victims from the ruling party itself; victims from nontraditional sections of the body politic, war veterans (less in March than in February, but
there all the same); victims from traditional leaders; and also victims from the new Zimbabwe
People First (ZimPF) party. The numbers of victims from the ZimPF party are on the rise
since the party made its entry late last year. By the time the party launched in February, it had
already started registering numbers of victims.
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) reports for March show a total of 123 violations which had
318 victims altogether. Of these victims 35 people (11.6%) were from ZimPF, which is a
significant increase from 18 victims in February (4 % of the total 441). While the number of
victims for March in general was less than from February, for ZimPF, the number of victims
doubled.
There is continuously (over the months) a large number of victims whose political affiliation
is unknown (55.3%). This seems to signify that for a good number of people their political
persuasion is not something they are open about.
On the other hand the profile of perpetrators continues to show that members of the security
sector are involved in political violation. March showed of 235 perpetrators, 80.4% were
from Zanu-PF, which always leads month after month. The police made up 6% of
perpetrators, the army 4.3%; while suspected members of the Central Intelligence
Organisation made up 0.4%. MDC-T had 6.8 of the perpetrators, while MDC party which is
led by Welshman Ncube had 0.4 perpetrators. It is interesting to note that PDP posted its
own numbers of perpetrators at 1.3%. These were mainly a result of intra-party conflict
which has also reared its ugly head in the relatively young PDP.
As the reports for March show, intra-party conflict continues to be quite rampant across the
board.
An issue that recurred this year as before is that of civil servants, particularly teachers being
forced to contribute their hard earned monies for Independence Day celebrations. For a
workforce that earns very little which of late has often come erratically, it is rather unfair for
teachers to be made to fund the celebrations especially when it is not by choice.
Politicised food aid distributions continued in cases across the country. In those instances
Zanu-PF membership continued to be the “passport” to get food aid. On page 29 we carry our
recommendations for food aid distribution including guidelines and minimum standards.
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