Date

Incidents/Developments

SADC standards breached

06.01.05

TOP MARKS FOR MUZZLING THE PRESS

Zimbabwe is rated among the three countries in the world with the worst media laws meant to stifle press freedom, according to the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

In its press freedom report for 2004, the Paris-based WAN said the worst attempts to create legal barriers for journalists were seen in the Islamic republic of Iran, the former Soviet Union republic of Uzbekistan and crisis-torn Zimbabwe.

The WAN report reads in part: "Serious limitations of freedom of expression in the form of national security laws, terrorism acts and criminal defamation laws have landed scores of journalists in prison and resigned many more to practising self-censorship.

"The most audacious attempts to create legal barriers to stifle the press can be seen in Uzbekistan, Iran and Zimbabwe."

In the last few days Robert Mugabe has signed into law amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which add further controls and criminal sanctions to an already draconian piece of legislation. Journalists can now be jailed for two years for practising without a licence, while media companies can be closed and have assets seized for operating without being registered.

Hundreds of journalists have been arrested in the past two years while three newspapers, including the country’s only independent and biggest circulating daily newspaper, the Daily News, were shut down for breaching the harsh Press laws.

(See the report in Zim Online: www.zimonline.co.za )

2.1.5 Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media

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 as well as access to the media on the part of all stakeholders, during the electoral process …

09.01.05

STATE MEDIA PROPAGATING HATRED

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), the country’s sole broadcaster, together with the dominant government controlled newspaper group, Zimpapers, continue to engage in a disinformation campaign in which they regularly propagate hatred and disaffection against government critics.

Dumisani Gandhi, an advocacy officer with the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) spoke recently at a human rights workshop in Gweru. Gandhi said that according to MMPZ findings, the prime targets of hate speech were the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), civic groups, whites and individuals including journalists. He added that such language could be a recipe for civil strife in the highly polarized political environment of Zimbabwe.

Gandhi cited recent examples of hate speech by Nathaniel Manheru, the Herald columnist, who described the MDC as a "many headed monster whose every limb carries its patenting scales and trait of treachery". The same columnist described the outspoken Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube as "the man who wore a face filled with hate but not divine hate, but of a common villager struck with spiteful jealousy … and when raw hate darts out it is seasoned with a bit (of) raw, uncooked saliva…The best medicine is to ignore the idiot, to leave him to wallow in his un-catholic hate …"

(See the report in The Standard: http://www.thestandard.co.zw/)

2.1.3 Political tolerance

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 the 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 movement, assembly, association, expression and campaigning … during the electoral process …

08.01.05

MILITIA BROUGHT IN AHEAD OF ELECTION

The regime of Robert Mugabe plans to incorporate more than

20 000 of its controversial youth militias into the police force ahead of March’s parliamentary election.

The recruitment of the youths, accused by churches and human rights groups of committing violence and terrorizing opponents of the ruling ZANU PF party, will double up police manpower which at present stands at about 21 000 officers. According to police sources the recruitment is due to be completed by the end of February, just ahead of the poll.

"Initially there were concerns of indiscipline among untrained reserves but the highest authorities sanctioned the move (because) we are racing against time. It takes six months to train a regular policeman and the election is just around the corner," said a senior police officer who did not want to be named.

On September 5 2003, Solidarity Peace Trust published a detailed report entitled "Shaping youths in a truly Zimbabwean manner". In it they carefully chronicled some of the abuses perpetrated by the youth militia on perceived opponents of ZANU PF and the abuses to which youths in training, especially young girls, were subjected by the national youth service training programme. The report noted that the youths were subjected to political indoctrination and were brutalized by violence.

The report states that "Conditions in the training camps are confirmed to be severe; particularly in the first year of implementation, rampant sexual activity among youth militia themselves was widely reported. Female youth militia have reported rape on a systematic basis in some camps, involving girls as young as 11 years of age.

"Youth militia pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections including HIV, have been reported as resulting from youth militia training experiences from a variety of sources in the last two years. Camp instructors are commonly implicated as among the rapists."

(See the report 0n Zim Online; www.zimonline.co.za)

(To read the Solidarity Peace Trust Report log on to their website, www.solidaritypeacetrust.org.za)

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

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, in order to maintain peace and security

7.7 (Government to) ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties participating in the elections

03.01.05

ZANU PF BUYS INFLUENCE WITH CHIEFS

In a bid to secure their compliance with the ruling party, the ZANU PF regime of Robert Mugabe has purchased brand new Mazda B 1800 trucks for Zimbabwe’s traditional leaders, the chiefs. Now the regime plans to give them wide ranging legal powers, a move seen as giving them more power to punish those who support the opposition.

In October last year Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo announced the upgrading of chiefs’ status, giving them powers to preside over cases with a monetary value up to Z$ 100 million. (Roughly equivalent to USD 17,400 or Rand 105,000 – a huge sum in impoverished rural Zimbabwe)

In reporting on these moves SW Radio Africa, an independent news service which broadcasts from London, commented: "With elections just around the corner the ruling party is going all out to make them (the chiefs) not only comfortable but powerful." Their report cited the example of Chief Tedious Matambanashe from the Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe district of Mashonaland East, who banished a family of eight because of reports they were opposition supporters.

The same incident was reported in the Zimbabwe Independent (January 7). And there have been numerous other recent examples of ZANU PF using the traditional leaders to intimidate the rural population so that they are too afraid to support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

Previous elections have been punctuated with promises of telephone lines, cell phones and a secretary each for the chiefs, while tarred roads were laid down to their homesteads.

(Reported on SW Radio Africa - http://www.swradioafrica.com/)

(See also the report in the Zimbabwe Independent; www.theindependent.co.zw)

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 …

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 …

09.01.05

RURAL TEACHERS FEAR VIOLENCE IN POLL Scores of teachers last week converged on the offices of the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture in Mutare, seeking transfers from rural schools to urban and peri-urban stations.

Nearly 100 teachers were seeking urgent transfers, citing transport costs and the fear of potential violence in the forthcoming election as their reason for doing so.

In the 2000 parliamentary election and the 2002 presidential elections teachers were targeted for violence mainly by ruling party activists, including so-called war veterans. They were accused of supporting or being sympathetic to the popular opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. Some of them were harassed, beaten up and forced to flee their rural schools.

Shortly before the presidential election in 2002, 30 schools around the country were closed by ZANU PF supporters. Stan Mudenge, the Foreign Minister, told a teachers’ meeting: "You can even be killed for supporting the opposition."

(Reported in The Standard: http://www.thestandard.co.zw/)

2.1.2 Freedom of association

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

7.7(Government to) ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties participating in the elections

03.01.05

REPORT ON POLITICAL VIOLENCE

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has produced through its Information and Publicity Department, a detailed report on the human rights abuses suffered by its supporters and officials at the hands of ZANU PF supporters, youth militia, state agents and war veterans. In the report, which covers the year 2004, the incidents are set out in chronological order. Some of these incidents will be cited in the next issue of Mauritius Watch.

(The MDC Report can be viewed on www.mdczimbabwe.org)