ZIMBABWE PEACE PROJECT
MONTHLY MONITORING REPORT
JULY 2021
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Once again, in July 2021, the citizens of Zimbabwe were the
major victims of human rights violations mainly committed
by the ruling ZanuPF party and the Zimbabwe Republic
Police. This is no coincidence. The statistics and the human
rights violations that ZPP recorded in the month of July
confirm the systematic nature in which both the ruling
party and law enforcement agents have become the
biggest threat to the enjoyment of human rights by citizens
in Zimbabwe.
Harassment, intimidation, unlawful arrests, beatings and aid
discrimination have become some of the most common
human rights violations ZPP has recorded in the past
months and the trend, unfortunately, continued in July
2021.
99.5 percent of this month’s victims of human rights
violations are ordinary citizens.
The citizens of Zimbabwe have become more and more
voiceless, and this comes in the wake of much more overt
attempts by government and ruling party to shut down the
operating space for civil society and the opposition.
Using all means necessary, from promulgating restrictive
legislation, to prying into the work of civil society
organizations
through
Provincial
Development
Coordinators, government has clearly demonstrated its
intention to shut out the remaining civil and political space.
It must be noted that civil society plays a critical role not in
just complementing the work of government in all sectors,
but it also holds government to account, promotes
transparency, accountability, democracy and an open
society.
By criminalizing, and stifling the work of civil society,
government denies citizens a chance to enjoy the vital
services provided by civil society organizations in all
sectors.
In the midst of all this, government continued to push its
COVID-19 vaccination efforts amid challenges that included
huge information gaps, and unavailability of adequate
vaccines in some communities.
While its efforts to increase the number of vaccines brought
into the country are commendable, government
unfortunately took a generally disjointed approach to the
process, to some extent defeating the purpose.
This happened as the general health situation in the
country deteriorated, with patients being turned away, or
simply being neglected.
The challenges in the maternal health system have not
been addressed and ZPP noted that pre and post-natal
services remained inaccessible to the generality of the
population, which relies mainly on council and government
3
primary care institutions.