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Lest We Forget: From LOMA to POSA
Public meeting commemorating the 1960 protests
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Harare, July 24, 2003

Confronted with the inevitable prospect of loss of political power, the ZanuPF regime has, in the past few years since early 2000 transformed Zimbabwe into a fascist state where the rule of law is not only selectively applied, but new and effectively draconian legislation is generated and used as a tool of repression. The late Claud Ake writes that for most post-colonial states, the emergent political elites inherit the repressive colonial laws and use them against the very people they once fought to liberate. The majority of Zimbabweans are fully aware that POSA is far much more repressive today than LOMA was under the Ian Smith regime of the colonial era. Both POSA and AIPPA are clearly products of fear of the people’s power. They were formulated by sick men and women whose sole objective is to suppress the truth, control the people and frustrate justice, while legitimising the committing of serious crimes against humanity on the people of Zimbabwe.

Selected forms of repression:
The evil regime has excelled in the invention of new techniques of inflicting pain on those it regards as threats to its continued survival. The Human Rights NGO Forum has documented some of these dastardly acts of the demonic regime. The following are only some of the old and new techniques that the regime is employing to this today:

Type of assault and torture

• Slapping or kicking or punching
• Blows with rifle butts, sticks, whips or irons
• Exposure to extreme cold or heat
• Hanging or suspension
• Prolonged standing or crouching
• Submarine, immersion, asphyxiation, strangling
• Burning
• Electrical shocks, including on genitalia
• Rape and urinating in victim's mouth

In addition, the regime also employs various types of deprivation against its own citizens including the following:

Type of deprivation

• Deprived of food, comfort or communication
• Incommunication, minimal food and comfort, overcrowding
• Lack of water (for more than 48 hours)
• Immobilization, restraint, total darkness (for more than 48 hours)
• Lack of sleep (less than 4 hours per night) for 5 days or longer
• Lack of needed medication or medical care for more than 48 hours

The Forum also notes various forms of psychological torture that are employed by the Mugabe regime in order to cause pain and suffering on its victims. The following are some of the types employed:

Type of psychological torture and ill-treatment

• Verbal abuse
• Threats against person
• False accusations
• Abuse with excrement
• Sexual abuse (without violence)
• Menaces against own life and family
• Simulated execution

In the period since February 2000, the regime and its agents have executed more than two hundred Zimbabweans from all walks of life. Various types of execution have been utilised in this regard, according to the NGO Human Rights Forum, including the following:

Type of executions

• Beating
• Shooting
• Stabbing/cutting
• Hanging, strangling
• Burning

In addition to all of these, agents of the repressive regime have also taken to several inhuman practices and victimisation of innocent citizens and residents of this country. The following are only the tip of the iceberg, or as we say in Africa, the ears of the hippo:

• deportations: e.g. the deportation of Andrew Meldrum and his wife;
• disruption of funerals and funeral wakes: e.g. Tonderai machiridza’s;
• assaults while in police custody: e.g. yours truly assaulted by the infamous Inspector Shoko of Borrowdale Police;
• confiscation of the corpse of a victim of police brutality: e.g. Machiridza’s;
• dubious suspension from employment: e.g. Mudzuri plus several civil servants suspected of being MDC sympathysers;
• illegal arrests and detentions and then no charges are preferred: e.g. Paul Temba Nyathi, Gibson Sibanda, Bisho Manhanga and yours truly;
• retributive attacks on organisers and suspected supporters of stayaways;
• assaults and harassment of journalists from independent media houses and their lawyers: e.g. Gugulethu Moyo and Philenmon Bulawayo;
• arrests and harassment of opposition MPs, their farm workers and their families for no apparent reason: e.g. Roy Bennet of the MDC;
• erosion of most civil liberties and freedoms through the promulgation of such cruel pieces of legislation as AIPPA and POSA;
• a do or die stranglehold on the information sector with the electronic media wholly controlled by the dictatorial ZanuPF government.

These acts of repression are consistently accompanied by intensive and extensive propaganda through the media, such as the sickening "Rambai Makashinga" adverts on radio and television. Zimbabwe is about the only country in the modern world that still believes that brain-washing the citizens can pay political dividends for the decaying ruling party. Apart from the corrupt abuse of public funds that is involved when the Department of Information pays for these adverts, the regime is also unaware that the adverts have become effectively counter-productive as many Zimbabweans now use the phrase "Rambai makashinga" in relation to the opposite of what the regime intended.

What are some of the results of all this repression by the evil regime of ZanuPF? Has the regime succeeded in containing public opposition to its continued existence? What price is being paid by the nation in allowing this regime to continue in office to this day? The following do not constitute a comprhensive list of the consequences of the repression perpetrated on the people of Zimbabwe by the Mugabe regime, but they are illustrative:

• the political culture of fear has effectively been intensified, especially as a result of the use of the military, armed police and the ZanuPF militia, also called the Green Bombers who are no more than hoodlums that are hired as canon fodder by the desperate regime;
• gross human rights violations are being committed daily by the regime’s agents, and the breakdown of the rule of law has meant that none of the perpetrators of these inhuman acts are punished under the law. Indeed, the law is now also being selectively applied in favour of the regime and its angels of evil;
• a deep sense of of hopelessness now pervades the nation, especially since the crisis of leadership has now also negatively impacted upon civic and church leaders who have generally become weaklings and scared bystanders while the regime continues to decimate the citizenry;
• collapse of the social sector with colleges, schools and health centres failing to provide the necessary services to the public. Sadly the public is now getting used to the hardships rather than fighting against them or the sick regime that has ruined the nation. If you stay long enough in a stinking toilet it ends up not stinking, unless, of course it is a Blair toilet;
• almost total collapse of the economy with shortages of all kinds of goods and services, including cash, and high prices for those items that are still available. It is amazing how slowly ZanuPF has come to the realisation that the land is, in fact, not the economy. Rambai makashinga asi mari hamuna.

What is the best way forward?
History must inform us accordingly. The repressive Rhodesian regime came to an end in 1980. The repressive apartheid regime of South Africa came to an end in 1994. Most repressive regimes throughout the world were overthrown by the people that they oppressed, some for many years. The repressive Mugabe regime will not be an exception. Sooner rather than later, the people of this country will cast out all fear and collectively drive the despotic government out of office. There will be no resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis without regime change. To speed up that regime change requires that we resist fatigue; for fatigue is the enemy of success. The degree to which the following suggested efforts will succeed will be dependent on our determination as a nation to rid ourselves of this liberator turned oppressor:

• The MDC and ZanuPF must be urged to pursue dialogue but without compromise of the people’s hard-won liberties and independence. The MDC must, however, realise that it will be dialoguing with the devil incarnate;
• Mass action involving peaceful street demonstrations, stayaways and other forms of resistance should continue to be used against the dictatorial regime. They have worked in the past, they still work, so they must continue to be used;
• Churches and civic organisations should overcome the political culture of fear and confront the demonic regime with the consequences of its evil actions. Prayer meetings aimed at asking God to deliver us from the evil ones should become a daily activity in all our churches;
• Opposition political parties, churches and civic organisations need to call a national one DAY OF MOURNING for all the victims of the repressive regime’s violence.

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