EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
November again!
The month of November has become significant in that it is the anniversary of
President Mnangagwa’s assumption of a coup propelled establishment, and with
each year, Zimbabwe’s human rights situation assumes a new low
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
In his love song, Stand by Me,
British singer-songwriter Henry
Olusegun Adeola Samuel, known
professionally as Seal, sings,
“When the night has come, and
the land is dark and the moon is
the only, light we'll see, no I
won't, be afraid. Just as long, as
you stand….
Just as Seal placed high hopes on
his lover, Zimbabweans welcomed
the coming in of President
Emmerson Mnangagwa into
power in 2017 with high hopes
that even though it was through a
military coup, there was a chance
for him to stand by Zimbabweans
when it got dark. Four years later,
we write a totally different story,
and each November, the
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has
recorded an increasing desire by
those in power to entrench
themselves using all but
democratic means.
The means include - at the
highest and lowest levels - the use
of state security agents to
suppress dissent, interference in
the affairs of the judiciary,
weaponization of the law,
politicization of aid, state-party
conflation, and enactment of
Draconian laws like the recently
gazetted Private Voluntary
Organisations Amendment Bill.
It is an all-out assault on the right
of citizens to enjoy their
constitutionally guaranteed
entitlements!
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