Zimbabwe Peace Project

MAY 2018
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

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2018_5 May Monthly Monitor Report

Monthly Monitoring Report

Executive Summary: The primary elections in the two main political parties, Zanu PF and the MDC-T, continued to shape political events in May. (The MDC-T held its primary elections in May, while for Zanu PF, they were mainly re-runs. Zanu PF’s primaries were in April). The primary elections nearly defined all the incidents of human rights violations in the month. Of the 81 cases that were recorded in May, almost a 20 percent decrease from the previous month where 102 cases were recorded – over 75 percent of the cases were directly connected to the primary elections. These included incidents of intraparty violence; political victimisation, intimidation and harassment; coercion and discrimination. It should be noted that a single case recorded can have multiple human rights violations perpetrated. Twenty four cases of intraparty political violence, mainly in the MDC-T, were recorded in May. In contrast, there were only two cases of interparty political violence between Zanu PF and the MDC-T. There were 22 incidents of victimisation, intimidation and harassment, mainly by Zanu PF and mainly against unsuspecting villagers and opposition or perceived opposition members or supporters. Seven cases of discrimination involving the politicisation and partisan distribution of food aid by Zanu PF local officials were also recorded, as well as four cases of coercion mainly involving Zanu PF and relating to forced meetings and forced donations, and two incidents of incitement to violence and hate speech. The other cases recorded were of a non-political nature and related to general violence, including the severe beating of civilians by members of Zimbabwe National Army in Kariba; corrupt and criminal practices by public officials; and violations of the right to education and other children’s rights. Ten cases of school children who were sent back home for school fees were recorded, as was one case of statutory rape and another of school children draped in Zanu PF regalia – ostensibly forced to attend a political gathering or to take part in political activities. Effectively, intraparty violence and incidents of political victimisation, intimidation and harassment defined the month of May, accounting for almost 57 percent of the violations recorded. The incidents were for the most part localised and targeted at political opponents and their supporters in the primaries.

Documents

2018_5 May MMR.pdf
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