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SADC
Mauritius protocol: Assessment of compliance with the protocol -
Issue No. 08
Sokwanele
December 13, 2004
On 17 August
2004, SADC leaders meeting in Mauritius adopted the SADC Protocol
– Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
Zimbabwe, as a member of SADC, also signed the Protocol and committed
itself to implementing its standards.
“Mauritius
Watch” provides a regular, objective and non-partisan assessment
of Zimbabwe’s compliance with the Protocol. In the run-up to
the 2005 Parliamentary Elections we note any significant failures
to adhere to the SADC standards.
In honour of
International Human Rights Day – 10 December 2004
“…
Some Africans still view the concern for human rights as a rich
man’s luxury for which Africa is not ready, or even as a conspiracy
imposed by the industrialised West. I find these thoughts demeaning
– demeaning of the yearning for human dignity that resides
in every African heart. Do not mothers weep when their sons and
daughters are killed or tortured by agents of oppressive rule? Do
not African fathers suffer when their children are unjustly sent
to jail? Is not Africa as a whole the poorer when just one of its
voices is silenced? Human rights …. are African rights. They
are Asian rights; they are European rights; they are American rights.
They belong to no government; they are limited to no continent,
for they are fundamental to humankind itself.”
(Statement by
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the opening of the
fifty-fourth session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva
on 16 March 1998).
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Date
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Incidents/Developments
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SADC
standards breached
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08.12.04
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CALL
FOR UN HUMAN RIGHTS PROBE IN ZIMBABWE
African
human rights and civic society groups have urged the African
Commission on Human and People’s Rights to pressure Harare
to accept a rapporteur from the Commission, and from United
Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, to probe the abuse
of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe.
In a submission
at the Commission’s 36th session, which ended in
Dakar last week, the groups also asked the continental human
rights watchdog to mobilize African pressure on the Mugabe
regime to restore judicial independence in Zimbabwe.
They said
the Commission should call for an enquiry into the harassment
and intimidation of lawyers and other human rights defenders
by ZANU PF supporters.
(For further
details refer to Zim Online – www.zimonline.co.za)
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2.1.7
Independence of the Judiciary and impartiality of electoral
institutions
4.1.1
Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights
of the citizens
4.1.2
Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
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01.12.04
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ZANU
PF HIT LIST FOR TOP NGOs
Events
have proved that the ruling party indeed has a hit list of
the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) it most wants to
close down under the NGO Bill. Top of that list are the country’s
two biggest NGOs, which the ruling party alleges are working
to unseat it from power.
Ministry
of Justice permanent secretary, David Mangota, representing
the Zimbabwean government at the 36th session of
the Africa Commission on Human Rights, confirmed that the
Mugabe regime intends to shut down the National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) and Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe (CCZ).
Mangota
told the commission that Harare was prepared to work with
civic society but said that action against the two NGOs was
justified because they were "conduits of foreign policies,
through which interference in governance is achieved."
The NCA
campaigns for a new and democratic constitution for Zimbabwe.
Supporters of the group have often clashed with the police
while demonstrating peacefully against the regime’s autocratic
rule.
The CCZ
is pushing for a negotiated and democratic settlement in Zimbabwe’s
deepening economic and political crisis.
Under
the Bill, NGOs are barred from carrying out voter education
and those working on human rights and governance-related issues
are barred from receiving foreign funding.
In a late-night
sitting on 9 December, Parliament gave the NGO Bill a third
reading. It now requires only the presidential signature and
gazetting before acquiring the force of law.
(See the
story on Zim Online –www.zimonline.co.za
)
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2.1.1.
Full participation of citizens in the political process
2.1.8
Voter education
4.1.1
Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights
of the citizens
7.4. (Government
to) safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens
including the freedom of movement, assembly, association,
expression and campaigning … during the electoral process
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7.5 (Government
to) take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent
the perpetration of fraud, rigging or any other illegal practices
throughout the whole electoral process .
.
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05.12.04
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ZIMBABWE
LIBERATORS’ PLATFORM SLAMS BILL
The Zimbabwe
Liberators’ Platform (ZLP), a non-partisan lobbying group
for genuine war veterans, ex-detainees and war collaborators,
has slammed the Mugabe regime for their authoritarian rule
and refusal to either listen to dissenting voices or to compromise
on their own agenda. The group issued a press statement entitled
"NGO Bill: The Great Betrayal" in which they sharply
condemned the regime’s intransigence over this draconian piece
of legislation.
ZLP points
out that they had called for dialogue leading to a compromise,
but the regime "negotiated in bad faith". "Its
mind," they said, "had already been made up."
In the
statement, ZLP draws a comparison between the Smith regime’s
unwillingness to listen to the black majority and the attitude
of the present regime in Zimbabwe.
It mentions
the NGO Bill in the context of such repressive legislation
dating from the Colonial era as the Unlawful Organizations
Act and the infamous Law and Order (Maintenance) Act.
The statement
ends: "For the gallant liberation war fighters (the fallen
heroes and heroines, the maimed and the living), this is a
great betrayal of the noble ideals which they laid down their
lives for. What has really gone wrong ?"
(The full
text of the statement may be seen in the Zimbabwe Independent
- www.theindependent.co.zw)
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2.1.1
Full participation of citizens in the political process
2.1.3
Political tolerance
4.1.1.
Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights
of the citizens
4.1.2
Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
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05.12.04
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MDC
ACTIVISTS INJURED IN BRUTAL ATTACK
At least
four activists from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
were injured in a brutal attack by a group of ZANU PF supporters
in Mutare West during the last week of November. The four
were accused of being "saboteurs".
The MDC
spokesman for Manicaland, Pishayi Muchauraya, said that ZANU
PF had started a "purging exercise" in Mutare West,
beating MDC supporters to force them into submission ahead
of the parliamentary elections due in March 2005.
Muchauraya,
who named the four injured supporters, said that arrangements
were in hand for them to receive specialist medical attention
in view of the danger of internal injuries. The mother of
one of the victims said, "My son was tied to a tree and
assaulted using bicycle chains. He has bruises all over his
body … we have reported the matter to the police but nothing
has happened."
The MDC
aspiring member of parliament for the constituency, Gabriel
Chiwara, reported that he had been forced to resort to different
and innovative campaign strategies in order to avoid both
the police and ZANU PF thugs.
(See the
report in The Standard – http://www.thestandard.co.zw/)
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2.1.2
Freedom of association
2.1.3
Political tolerance
4.1.
2 Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful
elections
7.4
(Government to) safeguard the human and civil liberties of
all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly,
association, expression and campaigning …
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07.12.04
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PROTEST
AT FRESH BID TO GAG MEDIA
The Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has written to Robert Mugabe
expressing its outrage at fresh moves by his regime to impose
new and even more severe restrictions on the media.
In a letter
dated 2 December, Ann Cooper, CPJ’s executive director, criticized
Harare for tightening media laws at a time when other African
countries were moving to relax controls.
"CPJ
is outraged at your government’s continued clampdown on the
independent media in Zimbabwe, including proposed new legislation
that could be used to jail journalists for up to 20 years,"
Cooper wrote.
Under
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Bill, journalists
can be jailed for up to 20 years for publishing "false"
information that could endanger public safety, damage the
defence and economic interests of Zimbabwe, promote public
disorder or undermine public confidence in state security
forces.
Under
existing law, Zimbabwean journalists already face a two-year
jail term and can be banned from practicing for life for publishing
"false" information. Even for publishing the verifiable
truth they often suffer severe legal harassment, including
unlawful arrest, imprisonment and torture.
At present
the ruling party has exclusive control of the state media,
while the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is denied
access to state radio, television and newspapers.
(See the
story on Zim Online – www.zimonline.co.za)
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2.1.5
Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the
state media
4.1.1
Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights
of citizens
4.1.2
Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
7.4 (Government
to) safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens
including the freedom of … expression … as well as access
to the media on the part of all stakeholders …
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05.12.04
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WARNING
OF FOOD MANIPULATION AHEAD OF POLL
The Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) says the ruling party, ZANU PF,
is seeking to establish a complete monopoly on food aid distribution
in the run-up to the parliamentary elections of March 2005.
The MDC’s
shadow minister for Lands and Agriculture, Renson Gasela,
says that the government is secretly importing maize in order
to facilitate its agenda.
"Inflating
crop yields does not only provide a useful pretext for terminating
food relief efforts by international NGOs," he said,
"but it also creates a convenient smokescreen behind
which government can covertly import food to coerce a hungry
electorate in the run-up to the elections."
A recent
investigation by the Parliamentary Committee on Lands and
Agriculture found that instead of the predicted 1,2 million
tonnes of maize being delivered to the Grain Marketing Board,
only 351 810 tonnes had been delivered by October – equivalent
to little more than two months’ supply for the whole country.
"Despite
the compelling evidence on the ground, the government continues
to tell the people of Zimbabwe and the outside world that
we have enough food and do not need outside assistance. The
government is playing with our lives; we are fast running
out of food," said Gasela.
At the
same time, Bulawayo City Council minutes reveal that another
10 people died as a result of malnutrition in November. The
10 comprised nine children under the age of four and a 70
year-old man. This brings to 180 the malnutrition death toll
recorded in the city over the past year. The Executive Mayor
of Bulawayo and the city’s Director of Health have in the
past been subjected to threats and abuse from leading ZANU
PF politicians for daring to publish the facts.
(For further
details refer to the report in The Standard – http://www.thestandard.co.zw/)
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4.1.
2 Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
7.5 (Government
to) take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent
the perpetration of fraud, rigging or any other illegal practices
throughout the whole electoral process …
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On the basis
of these and numerous other daily breaches of the SADC Protocol
on Democratic Elections, it can be seen that the Mugabe regime has
yet to show any serious intent to change its ways or to begin to
prepare for anything resembling fair and free elections. In fact,
a new raft of oppressive legislation rushed through Parliament recently
will result in a situation even worse than that which prevailed
during the Parliamentary Elections of 2000 and Presidential Election
of 2002, both of which were heavily criticized by observer missions
from the international community.
And the March
Parliamentary Elections are now a matter of weeks away …..
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