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Are they accountable? Examining alleged violators and their violations pre and post the Presidential Election March 2002
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
December 2002

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Period Covered
This report examines the nature and causes of political violence in Zimbabwe during the period from 1 June 2001 to 30 June 2002, and attempts to identify those who were responsible for it. The report is based on more than 900 victims’ statements. The Human Rights NGO Forum has done what it can to verify these statements and is satisfied that the vast majority of them are substantially true. The Forum believes they must be published in the public interest.

Background
The background to the report covers the period from the national referendum in early 2000 to the Presidential Election in March 2002 and the post-election reprisals against opposition party members.

Internationally accepted notions of what constitutes torture and organized violence have been used, defined and illustrated.

Methodology
This report has made use of two main sources of information. Just over half of the information is derived from statements given by victims directly to the Legal Unit of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, while the remainder comes from statements obtained by the Forum’s partner organisations. Ninety-five per cent of the cases used in this report are reports made by the victims themselves, either to the Forum or its partner organisations.

Statistics of Violence
Statistics of the violence reflect gender analysis, areas where the violence occurred, including the date of the incident and the type of violence used. Again, the methods used are described in detail. It is noted that torture was by far the most frequent form of violence employed.

Militia Bases
Reference is made to the militia bases alleged to have been set-up by ZANU PF supporters and "war veterans". Of the 978 victims whose cases are examined in this report, 10% (98) alleged that they were abducted to a base in their area.

Appendixes
Appendixes to the report contain lists of alleged violators, taken from published and unpublished sources, as well as a list of politically-motivated murders committed during the period under review, and a list of militia bases.

Commentary
Only 1.4 per cent of the victims were politically affiliated to ZANU PF. The rest of the victims were supporters of the opposition MDC; those of unknown political affiliation and those who were apolitical. Victims allege that they were attacked either for being MDC members or supporters or because they were suspected of being MDC supporters. It was both difficult and risky to be apolitical in the period under review.

The victims’ of political violence can be broken down as follows:

MDC supporters – 51%; Non-aligned or apolitical victims – 47.6%; and ZANU PF supporters – 1.4%

In the report "Are They Accountable? Examining alleged violators and their violations pre and post the Presidential Election March 2002", the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum maintains the following:

• The problem of politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe is NOT a black on white war based on the redistribution of land and its ownership. There is a unanimous consensus on the need for a land reform and land redistribution exercise, but the country remains seriously divided on the means and methods of achieving this goal.
• The problem, rather, is an intolerance of and lack of respect for political pluralism. While there is violence on commercial farms affecting both commercial farmers and farm workers; the majority of violence is taking place in communal areas and high-density urban areas.
• The Government conducted a Presidential election shrouded in allegations of rigging and violence; which election on the whole received adverse international observer reports that the polls were not free and fair.
• For the better part of the 13 months under review, there have been high levels of political violence, with all available evidence indicating that, although not the sole perpetrators, Zanu PF supporters have been the major perpetrators of gross human rights abuses against members of opposition political parties or ordinary citizens. The level of violence rose steadily between June 2001 and December 2001. In January 2002, when campaigning in the Presidential election intensified, there was a sharp increase in violence. This increase continued for the next two months, with February and March recording all-time highs.
• The passing of a General Amnesty for "politically-motivated crimes" committed in the pre-election period in 2000 imbued the climate of impunity. Clemency Order No. 1 of 2000 pardoned any politically motivated crime excluding murder, rape, robbery, indecent assault, statutory rape, theft and possession of arms. Those persons who committed politically motivated crimes such as assault, torture, abduction and arson were therefore pardoned.
• Following an open declaration of support for the ruling party by the leadership of the Zimbabwe Republic Police there appears to be consequent tolerance of criminal acts perpetrated by Government supporters.
• There have been sustained, verbal and physical, attacks upon media practitioners and their private property with allegations that law enforcement agents are uncooperative in bringing perpetrators to book. The recent enactment of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) has effectually suppressed the right to freedom of expression by journalists and civil society through the direct control of journalistic activity through the office of the Ministry of Information in the President’s office.
• There have been sustained attacks on certain members of the judiciary by some Government ministers and legislators and there is a general increasing perception that the bench is being politicized.
• There have been assertions by the President, Government Ministers, ZANU PF supporters and militia leaders that they will not abide by unfavourable decisions of the courts.
• There has been continuous victimization, on political grounds, of opposition party supporters and civil servants and some specious prosecution of both entities.
• Claims by Government that it is adhering to principles of democracy and human rights have been continuously undermined by the persistent action against all and any opposition voices and a clamp down on freedom of expression.
• The infrequent periods during which the scale of political violence declined do not overshadow the fact that all forms of torture and deprivation of property rights, even at these times, constituted gross human rights violations.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum condemns the continued violence and the attempts to erode the basic freedoms of citizens and civil society organizations in Zimbabwe and: -

• urges the Zimbabwean Government to acknowledge the crisis in the country and take steps to remedy the situation. We hereby exhort the Government to ensure a swift and determined return to the rule of law and an end to the political violence;
• calls on African Governments to recognise the crisis in Zimbabwe as a crisis affecting ordinary Zimbabweans and acknowledge that it is not a black on white war over land redistribution. The problem has long extended far beyond that and needs to be addressed urgently on a national scale to find a long-term and peaceful solution.

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