Harare, as the capital, always sets the
pulse on political developments of the
rest of the country and in October,
political contestation heightened over
the visit by the United Nations UN
Special Rapporteur on Negative Impact
of Unilateral Coercive Measures on
Human Rights, Alena Douhan.
Provincial
Highlights
7.1
Harare
Douhan was in Zimbabwe in October at
the invitation of the government of
Zimbabwe to assess the impact of
restrictive measures the United States
and the European Union have imposed
on some Zanu PF and government
officials in Zimbabwe over human
rights abuses perpetrated by the
government and the ruling party.
structured dialogue on political
reforms, human rights and rule of law.”
“The time is ripe for sanctioning States
and key national stakeholders to engage
in meaningful structured dialogue on
political reforms, human rights and the
rule of law and abandon the rhetoric on
sanctions as an advocacy tool,” reads
part of her report.
The regional bloc, Southern Africa
Development Committee (SADC)
weighed in and for the first time,
admitted that the challenges in
Zimbabwe were multifaceted and
required a holistic approach.
SADC chairperson Malawian President
Lazarus Chakwera called for
In order to control the narrative,
“meaningful and constructive dialogue
politicians and citizens exchanged
to consolidate the rule of law,
words on social media and this had the democracy, governance and human
impact of increasing the levels of
rights” in Zimbabwe and said it was
political tensions and divisions.
only through such exchanges that
Notably, Douhan, whose schedule
better appreciation of concerns of all
according to sources in government had parties could be secured and progress
initially not included civil society and
towards their resolution be achieved.”
opposition political parties, managed to The ZPP joins other like-minded
receive submissions.
institutions in reiterating that the
Her preliminary report set out, among
other recommendations, “meaningful
challenges in Zimbabwe are deeply
rooted in the country’s poor human
rights record, corruption, economic
mismanagement and the disregard for
the tenets of constitutionalism.
ZPP welcomes SADC’s recognition of
this and urges the regional bloc to build
onto the current advocacy on rule of
law, democracy, good governance and
transparency.
Away from the story of sanctions,
political activity remained on the high
and infractions happened in the
process.
One key example is the arrest of war
veterans who were protesting against
the government's disregard for their
welfare seen by the pittance they
received as pension money. Currently,
the veterans of the liberation struggle
earn ZWL20,000, which is just over
USD100.00 at the current parallel
exchange rate.
The veterans are currently out on bail.
In another incident, police rounded up
some MDC Alliance Youth Assembly
activists who were conducting a voter
registration drive in Chitungwiza. It is
alleged that two minors were also
arrested.