PROVINCIAL OUTLOOK
Bulawayo
Midlands
In Bulawayo, the government's directive to restrict vending
In Midlands Province, 14 documented human
hours to between 5pm and 9pm coupled with the proposed
rights violations revealed a disturbing pattern
ban on night vending under the pretext of curbing robbery
of state-led repression and disregard for
and money laundering has triggered unrest and deepened
fundamental rights. 192 people were affected
socio-economic distress. This policy, implemented without
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consultation or viable alternatives, is a direct threat to the
Councillor Mawere (Mkoba ward 16) and eight
livelihoods of thousands of informal traders, many of whom
others were arrested and assaulted by law
depend solely on vending for survival in an already collapsing
enforcement agents for allegedly mobilising
economy. The violent clash two weeks ago between vendors
protests, while another activist was briefly
and council police, who were manning vending stands,
detained
underscores
in
involvement. These actions highlight systemic
communities where economic survival is criminalized rather
police brutality, the criminalization of dissent,
than supported. Compounding this crisis is the worsening
and targeted intimidation aimed at stifling
water situation. Many urban areas have gone more than two
civic engagement. Ruling party affiliates in
weeks without access to clean tap water, forcing residents to
Chiwundura constituency have reportedly
rely on unregulated water vendors selling from mobile Jojo
threatened villagers against participating in
tanks at $1 per bucket. This not only exposes residents to
anti-government activities, fostering a climate
potential health risks but also violates the fundamental right
of fear and coercion. Collectively, these
to clean, safe, and affordable water—guaranteed under both
developments reflect Zimbabwe’s worsening
the Zimbabwean Constitution and international human rights
human rights crisis marked by restrictions on
standards.
free speech, assembly, and growing impunity
the
rising
Together,
tensions
these
and
conditions
desperation
highlight
a
deteriorating human rights environment, where the right to
men
and
and
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women).
interrogated
In
Gweru,
for
similar
for abuses perpetrated by state agents.
earn a living and access basic services is increasingly
undermined by state actions and neglect. The use of force to
enforce vending restrictions, without addressing the root
causes of informal trading or providing economic alternatives,
reflects a punitive rather than rights-based approach to
governance.
Manicaland
Manicaland Province recorded 21 human rights violations affecting 336 people (153 men and 183 women),
underscoring a troubling pattern of political coercion, abuse of power, and systemic neglect of essential
services. In Makoni Central's Ward 8, ZANU PF operatives, led by a known party official, conducted intimidation
campaigns at Agape Christian Junior School, documenting absent teachers and pressuring the headmaster to
compel their return under threat mirroring coercive tactics reported in other districts to force political allegiance.
In Chipinge Urban, vendors resisting forced relocation by local authorities faced harassment, with council security
confiscating their goods and extorting $30 for their return, an egregious abuse of power and violation of
economic rights. The humanitarian situation is equally dire. In Chimanimani West, insufficient and poorly
managed food aid has left vulnerable families without critical support amid a declared national drought, and in
Ward 15, collapsing healthcare infrastructure and medicine shortages led to preventable deaths. These violations
starkly expose the collapse of civil liberties, political freedoms, and access to essential services intensifying
Zimbabwe’s deepening human rights crisis.
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