February 2018
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Theft/looting
0
0
Discrimination
1
3
Intimidation/harassment
3
5
The use of hate language in the build-up to the
burial of the late Tsvangirai by mainly MDC-T
members accusing Zanu PF members of being
responsible for the death of their leader was
recorded.
Category of incident
Threat level: Low
Feb 2018
Jan 2018
Assault
3
0
Theft/looting
1
0
Discrimination
3
3
Intimidation/harassment
21
13
Food and other forms of aid
Food and farming inputs aid continues to be used
as a political tool in most provinces. The cases are
very low in Matabeleland North, South and
Bulawayo despite the provinces being the worst
food insecure due to dry weather. The practice has
been rampant in areas where the populations
survive on subsistence farming such as
Mashonaland, Manicaland and Masvingo. Those
who failed to produce voters’ slips to have serial
numbers recorded by ruling party activists were
the common victims of deprivation of farming
inputs or food aid.
Political intolerance leading to the suppression of
citizens’ political rights dominated the cases
which were recorded in the province. Out of 18
human rights violations recorded, 11 were
violations of political rights. These also included
cases of intra-party violence. The other violations
which were recorded during the month included
the right to food, the electoral act as well as the
right to personal security. In Gokwe Central Chief
Nemangwe who was in the company of the Zanu
PF secretary for war veterans Victor
Matemadanda addressed residents and declared
that no other parties were going to be allowed to
campaign. A similar case was reported in GokweKana were the Zanu PF leadership with the
blessing of village heads uttered the same words.
This clearly violates Section 281(2)(a and b) of
the constitution which states that traditional
leaders must not be members of any political party
or in any way participate in partisan politics, act in
a partisan manner.
The month of February, also recorded cases of
intra-party violence, use of hate language by
political parties. Intra-party violence was recorded
in Gweru Chiwundura between members of the
MDC-T. The misunderstanding was on who was
the preferred successor of the late party president.
Figure 8. Villagers who had names omitted from beneficiary list
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