In its latest report, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) concludes that the political environment seems calm, but under the surface it is filled with tension as parties in the GNU continue with infighting and testing each other’s muscle. A semblance of peace prevails, but there is a shadow of violence that continues to loom vividly.
Although the level of physical violence is still limited, several grave human rights abuses have been committed by state agents and youth gangs in recent months.
The feared youth gang Chipangano continues to harass the opposition by disturbing MDC’s political meetings and rallies and threatening people with grave repercussions if they vote for MDC at the next election. The police fails to intervene, and Chipangano therefore has increasing control in the high density suburbs of Harare.
The police has embarked on a campaign of terror targeting taxi and bus drivers, and 8 police officers took the law in their own hands when they killed a civilian and injured 11 people in a case involving trading in fake gold.
This is happening in a situation where citizens have already lost confidence and trust in the police, which is viewed as the extended arm of the political leaders rather than a non-partisan protector of public order and safety for citizens. With Robert Mugabe’s unilateral and unconstitutional re-appointment of Augustine Chihuri as Police Commissioner, there is limited hope that the police will return to normality.
With increased tension in the Government of National Unity as the battle for control of the political arena intensifies as the parties prepare for elections, there is reason to believe that the level of intimidation as well as violence will be increasing.
The ACT NOW Against Political Violence, Torture and Rape campaign has gained momentum, in particular in terms of mobilisation of female activists, who have been beaten down from years of repression.
“Women are strong and believe we need to continue the struggle for democracy. Activism is within us and we will never move backwards. We will continue the fight until we have a people driven constitution in Zimbabwe” says a leading female activists in NCA.
NCA National Spokesperson, Madock Chivasa, speaking about the ACT NOW Against Political Violence Campaign
Mobilisation and education of women
In the past year, the NCA has embarked on a national outreach programme to encourage an open dialogue about the risks and challenges facing women and provide a platform for women to share their personal stories about the physical, mental and social attacks by the law enforcement agencies, militia and youth gangs.
Around the country women and men has gathered in small groups to break the silence and talk about the trauma resulting from being targeted by the state in response to their call for a people driven constitution. This has contributed to building women’s self-esteem as individuals and as active participants in the movement for a genuine democratisation of Zimbabwe’s repressive regime.
Responses to police brutality
In spite of the courage and unity of the democracy movement, activists are still putting their lives on the line when they take up the fight against repression. Many female activists have been faced with police brutality, and women who choose to become active in NCA are acutely aware of the risks of physical assaults, arrest and torture. By teaching women about their rights they have become better prepared for how to react, when the police interrupt demonstrations and NCA meetings.
“Women now stand firm against the police. We tell them that we will not run away, so they can just go ahead and arrest us all. If one of us is arrested we stand together as a group and tell the police men to arrest us all. The police will leave us alone because we stand firm” says one of the women, who has educated grassroots women.
Protection and support to female activists
No matter how firm the women stand, the effects of the medical and psychological trauma from political violence cannot be underestimated. In the past year, NCA has scaled up the efforts to provide counselling, medical and legal support for women, who have been subjected to political violence. No woman should be left alone with the physical, mental and social wounds from violence, rape and torture. Therefore NCA has put a system in place, where women can report any incidences of political violence to the local offices, who will then refer them to medical, counselling and legal support.
Unfortunately the Zimbabwean police and court systems are under Robert Mugabe’s control, and it is not possible to report cases to the police or take the perpetrators to court. The police routinely refuse to investigate any cases of political violence against civic activists, who are perceived as being affiliated with Mugabe’s political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Prosecution of perpetrators of political violence is therefore rare, and in the few court cases, the political elite has sought to threaten or pay the judges to rule in favour of the perpetrator. However, human rights lawyers and doctors still document all the cases, and are preparing to take them to court as soon as the political control of the court system is reduced. Attempts have also been made to prosecute perpetrators in other countries.
International lobbying
The women of Zimbabwe are not alone in their fight against repression. Throughout the past year, NCA and Africa Contact have put pressure on policy makers in Southern Africa and Europe to push for an end to political violence in Zimbabwe.
NCA has held a series of demonstrations around the campaign in Johannesburg. When the Southern Africa Development Community held an extraordinary summit in Johannesburg in June 2011, NCA handed in a petition calling on SADC to pressure Zimbabwe to put an end to political violence.
NCA Activists on their way to hand in petition to SADC
NCA Chairman Lovemore Madhuku and International Coordinator Munjodzi Mutandiri visited Copenhagen in December to mobilise support for the campaign. Civil society arranged a conference to address the issue of women’s political participation, and the Danish Government opened the doors to discuss the current political situation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took note of NCA’s analysis of the Government of National Unity’s failure to provide stability and security for Zimbabweans, and NCA stressed that there is an urgent need to ensure that all Zimbabweans are free to choose their leader and contribute to building the future of the country.
In February, NCA’s partner Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), went to Geneva to engage the United Nations in the fight against political violence. During Zimbabwe’s review by the Committee on the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), RAU successfully lobbied the Committee to condemn the systematic use of political violence against women. The CEDAW Report called on the Zimbabwean Government to end political violence.
International Solidarity
On the International Women’s Day and May Day, activists from Africa Contact took to the streets to urge Danish citizens and policy makers to show their solidarity with the women of Zimbabwe. More than 500 Danes showed their support by having their picture taken for a virtual petition on Facebook.
Danes calling for an end to political violence against women in Zimbabwe
The events caught the attention of Danish policymakers and the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Lene Espersen said: “I think we should fight all attempts at trying to misuse women for political purposes. So let’s speak up and speak up loud for the Zimbabwean women”, when she had her picture taken for the petition.
Strengthening the movement for a democratic Zimbabwe
The campaign has not only contributed to improving the situation for female activists. It has also strengthened NCA as a movement. The fear and consequences of political violence is something that is present in the lives of all activists. By initiating discussions about political violence at all levels of the organisation, NCA has become even more relevant for its grassroots supporters, because the organisation acknowledges and seeks to assist the physical and psychological risks the membership face.
“The campaign against political violence is the first of its nature in NCA. We have always campaigned for a people driven constitution, and our members were positively surprised to see us talk about political violence. It has helped us mobilise our grassroots, especially women“, says a member of NCA’s Task Force.
But the struggle does not end here. Political violence, especially against women, has become integral to Zimbabwe’s political battleground as is still used as a tool to silence critical voices. It is expected that Zimbabwe will have a referendum on a new constitution this year and elections next year. Mugabe is not expected to give up power without a fight and is likely to launch a new campaign of intimidation and violence against the democracy movement. We need to prepare ourselves to protect women and provide support for the victims of political violence – and speak out to the international community on the continued human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
Yesterday a case was launched in High Court in South Africa against high level Zimbabwean officials, accused of crimes against humanity by SARC and ZEF. The case is concerned with torture committed after a police raid on the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headquarters in 2008.
It is well known that the Zimbabwean law enforcement agencies and judiciary can no longer be viewed as independent. President Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, have in the past decades used a combination of intimidation and patronage to prevent police officers, lawyers and judges to carry out independent investigations and trials of perpetrators of political violence. Survivors of political violence, torture and rape have been left without access to justice.
As a signatory to the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court (ICC), South Africa has the opportunity to take direct action against Zimbabwe’s denial of justice.
The ICC Act obliges signatories to arrest and prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity, giving South Africa no choice but to arrest the perpetrators when they set foot in the country.
In 2010 the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo issued an arrest warrant for six high level individuals in Kenya including Ministers and Members of Parliament. They are accused of crimes against humanity, including rape and murder, committed during the election violence in 2007.
Time will show if South Africa intents to live up to its international obligations and offer a fair trial for the torture victims and prosecute the accused for crimes against humanity.
The case will be heard between 26 March and 30 March 2012.
As the election is coming closer, the security situation of public gatherings is worsening, challenging the work of civil society. On Saturday 9th April a peaceful prayer meeting against the escalating violence in Zimbabwe was brutally disrupted by the police.
More than 800 women, men and children attended the meeting, which took place in a church. But shortly after the meeting began, a truck full of policmen arrived.
‘They didn’t give us any warning. They just shouted that we had to disperse and then immediately started throwing teargas into the church’ an eye witness who attended the meeting explains.
The entrances to the church were blocked and people panicked creating a stampeed. Many men, women and children were injured as they desperately tried to flee the teargas. 14 people were arrested.
The increasing difficulties in arranging meetings has a serious impact on the organisations involved in the fight to end political violence against women. Grassroots based organisations, such as theNational Constitutional Assembly (NCA), have been forced to adopt new strategies in how they work. This development is adding severe challenges and is making it almost impossible when trying to reach out to women who are scared to be associated with the democracy movement.
The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) is an independent, non-governmental organization that carries out research on Women, Displacements, and Governance in Zimbabwe. RAU has recently released a new report “Women and Law Enforcement in Zimbabwe”.
The report outlines disturbing evidence that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) often are perpetrators of violence against women during legal and peaceful protests as well as women held in custody.
Rather than protecting Zimbabwean citizens from abuses, the police force has become perpetrator of violence, and takes active part in carrying out the violent strategies of the ruling party. They rarely investigate cases reported by supporters of the opposition. On the contrary they often respond by arresting the person, who has reported the crime.
It is therefore not surprising that out of the 2,149 women interviewed for the report, 75% do not believe there is respect for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, 77% are dissatisfied with the way law enforcement agents have handled cases of violence.
