Zimbabwe Peace Project

March 2017
Human Rights Violations
MONTHLY MONITORING REPORT

‘Season of protest’

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2017_3 March Monthly Monitor Report

Monthly Monitoring Report

Executive Summary: The Zimbabwe Peace Project recorded various human rights violations in the month of March. Civic and political rights violations were recorded in both urban areas and rural areas. In urban areas the violations were mainly the denial of the right to freedom of assembly, expression and association. There was a National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) demonstration in Harare to protest against government’s decision to fund the acquisition of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) equipment. There was also a war veterans meeting in Harare and this resulted in police being on high alert and in the case of the NERA demo, police prevented NERA supporters from delivering their petition to ZEC premises in their numbers saying only ten people would be allowed to do so. There were also Zanu PF demonstrations countrywide against women’s league members Eunice Sandi-Moyo and Sarah Mahoka. While NERA and war veterans almost had their meetings prohibited by police and ended up having stringent conditions to hold their meetings, Zanu PF supporters countrywide did not complain of such restrictions. Only the ruling party political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere was accused of trying to prevent the political meetings from going ahead. All citizens have a right to equal treatment before the law and the arbitrary manner in which police are authorising or prohibiting political gatherings amount to discrimination. In rural areas reports were about the denial of the rights to freedom of association and right to food mainly. The opposition MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai has been going around the country meeting opinion leaders in various communities and this has resulted in a rise in violations against MDC-T supporters. They reported that they are being harassed for wearing MDC-T regalia or attending the party’s meetings. The ruling Zanu PF party has been having its own internal contradictions and a number of intra-party violent incidents have been reported. The ruling party is also perpetually organising and campaigning and this has resulted in people reporting that they are being forced to attend party meetings or denied food and other aid on partisan basis. The month of March also saw villagers being evicted from Arnold farm in Mazowe and being relocated to Concession. Minor children have not been going to school after being forcibly relocated to a new area 40km away. The villagers were also deprived of their property after they were forced to leave their livestock and crops behind. The fight against impunity received a major boost when the High Court ruled that those who carry out torture and other illegalities in the course of their duties can be sued in their personal capacity in the case of Minister of State Security vs. Jestina Mukoko. Finally all eyes have been in Mwenezi East where Zimbabwe People First candidate Kudakwashe Bhasikiti withdrew from the by-election slated for 8 April arguing that his supporters are being harassed and he is being prevented from holding rallies. The ruling Zanu PF has been accused of vote buying using maize and rice accessed from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). Traditional leaders have also been actively campaigning for the ruling party in violation of Section 281 of the constitution. Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) reports for March show a total of 112 violations down from last month’s 144. The month under focus had 655 victims altogether. Of these victims, those from the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) were 21 people 3, 2 %, and those affiliated to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) stood at 14, 35 % which translates to 94 people. The increase in MDC-T victims may be linked to the increased political activity by the opposition party’s Morgan Tsvangirai who has been going around the country meeting opinion leaders. A total of 655 victims and 263 perpetrators were recorded. 62,4 % of the victims were male while 37,5 % were females. 90, 5% of the perpetrators were male while 9, 5 % were female. One hundred and sixty seven (167) perpetrators were affiliated to the ruling Zanu PF party which is 63,5 % of the figure. Four perpetrators could not be established which party they were affiliated to. Eighty one (81) perpetrators were police officers while 8 perpetrators where from the Zimbabwe National Army. Two (2) of the perpetrators were Central Intelligence Organisation operatives and 1 perpetrator was from the MDC-T.

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2017_3 March MMR.pdf
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