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Political violence report - May 2005 - Overview
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
August 19, 2005

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Overview
The month of May was overshadowed by "Operation Murambatsvina"¹ or "Operation Restore Order" as the Government embarked on an operation to clear the country of illegal settlements and regularize informal trading in urban areas, leading to more than 700 000² people being internally displaced. This operation was said by Government to be a cleaning up process but it left many people homeless and many more without a source of income. The massive show of force by the Army and Police and the indifference to human suffering exhibited during the operation were castigated by civil society organizations and the UN Secretary General, Koffi Anan. Despite the recommendations by the UN that this operation stop immediately, the Government responded informally through the media by discrediting the UN Special Envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, who came to evaluate the operation, calling her a puppet of the British government and further castigating the UN as an organization.³ The Human Rights Forum notes that before the envoy came and indeed when she arrived the Government of Zimbabwe did not raise objections to her participation in evaluating the operation. The Forum urges the Government to deal with the issues raised rather than attack the personality of the UN Special Envoy.

A disturbing phenomenon in May was the MDC intra-party political violence. In this debacle, many youths were reported to have been assaulted at Harvest House for allegedly not supporting the current MDC Secretary General, Professor Welshman Ncube, while in Kuwadzana a lady was allegedly assaulted for supporting him. The Human Rights Forum urges the parties in the MDC conflict to exercise their freedom to disagree without being disagreeable. Tolerance of differing opinions is a crucial aspect of democracy and any violent obstruction of the right to dissent cannot be condoned.

In Mount Darwin South constituency, there were widespread reports of political victimization and displacement of MDC supporters by ZANU-PF supporters. The reports are that the MP for Mount Darwin South, Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere, urged his supporters during his celebration rallies, to rid the area of MDC filth. In the process, many Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) election observers in the March 2005 Parliamentary Elections were targeted and displaced from their places of residence. The Forum condemns such irresponsible conduct from a highly esteemed MP and urges all politicians to encourage a culture of not only tolerance but respect for the rights of others. In Marondera East Constituency, a war veteran, Godwin Ganda, was murdered in unclear circumstances, which are suspected to be politically motivated. The Human Rights Forum utterly deplores this murder which is reminiscent of the murder of Cain Nkala, another war veteran, whose murderers strangled him with a shoe lace. The Forum further urges the police to investigate and bring to book the perpetrators of such gruesome acts.

Totals: 1 May-31 May 2005

Cumulative totals: 1 January - 31 May 2005

The cumulative graph should be read along with the table depicting the monthly totals of violations from 1 January 2005 to 31 May 2005. The total quantifiable number of victims reported in May 2005 is 356.

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1. Murambatsvina is a shona word for reject the dirt or more precisely get rid of the filth or human excrement.
2. This number was given by the UN in its report on the operation. The operation is also the subject of many reports by CHRA, ZLHR, Solidarity Peace Trust among others. Also see the report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum entitled "Order out of chaos or chaos out of order"
3. President Robert Gabriel Mugabe took the opportunity to denounce the UN report and its findings in China when he went looking for foreign currency to alleviate the current economic crisis. He further implied that the operation would continue even though the Government had assured the UN Special Envoy that the operation was being finalised before she left the country on her tour of duty.

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