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Arrest of members of WOZA and their legal practitoner
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights)
February 15, 2006

ZIMRIGHTS is an organisation whose principal aims are to foster among individuals and groups respect for human dignity regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, age, or social status, to promote the practice of social, economic, legal and natural justice so as to bring about social harmony and peace, to contribute to the local, national and international efforts to establish a more just and peaceful order, and, to continuously review human rights values and standards for the people of Zimbabwe.

On the 13th of February 2006 officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in Bulawayo arrested and detained about 181 ladies peacefully marching during a demonstration organised by the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a civic organisation in Zimbabwe.

On the 14th of February 2006, members of the ZRP in Harare again arrested about 252 ladies marching during a peaceful demonstration also organised by WOZA.

On the 14th of February 2006, outside the Anglican Church at the corner of 2nd Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue, Harare, members of the ZRP assaulted, harassed, and then proceeded to detain a legal practitioner, Tafadzwa Mugabe, for about six hours from about 1300hrs to 1930hrs at the Harare Central Police station. Tafadzwa Mugabe was later released without charge. Mr Tafadzwa Mugabe, a pro bono lawyer, had questioned the police officers why they had arrested the peacefully marching ladies on St. Valentine's Day.

Zimbabwe has a Declaration of Rights as provided for under the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is also a signatory to a number of key international instruments which flow from the Universal Declaration of Rights. Both the Zimbabwean Constitution and predominant international human rights instruments recognise, among other rights, that:

1. Everyone has the right to assemble freely and associate with other persons.
2. Legal practitioners should be allowed to carry on their official business without looking behind their backs in fear of anyone or any institution.
3. Human Rights are inalienable and cannot be taken away by any individual or institution. They are not gifts bestowed at the pleasure of any government.

In our considered view, the Zimbabwean executive or government, which is vicariously liable for the actions of its police force, has acted in breach of the constitutional Declaration of Rights and international human rights instruments in that:

1. It barred, and made it virtually impossible for the unarmed and harmless ladies involved in the WOZA peaceful demonstration to enjoy their enshrined and sacrosanct right to peacefully assemble and participate in a demonstration.
2. In barring the ladies from carrying out a peaceful demonstration, the police were ostensibly acting on the basis and authority of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), whereas the ultimate and regrettable effect of POSA, among other things, is to take away an inalienable right to assemble and associate, which right every living person in Zimbabwe is born with, and naturally entitled to.
3. The harassment and detention of a legal practitioner, Tafadzwa Mugabe, who dutifully intended to represent the unlawfully "arrested" ladies, is deplorable as the said legal practitioner was genuinely acting in terms of his dutiful, ethical and moral activities as a legal practitioner.

In the circumstances of the above-stated wrongful acts, ZIMRIGHTS urges the Zimbabwean authorities to:

1. through parliament, forthwith amend sections of POSA which are patently and latently in breach of human rights guarantees contained in the Zimbabwean Constitution and international human rights treaties to which Zimbabwe is a party.
2. through parliament, domesticate or adapt international human rights instruments to which the government is a signatory, so that everyone in Zimbabwe can enjoy universally recognised rights, which government representatives have traveled abroad, on the taxpayer's account, to bind Zimbabwe regionally and internationally.
3. guarantee the freedom of lawyers or legal practitioners to carry out their duties without fearing harassment, intimidation or undue coercive influence from law enforcement agencies.
4. stop ruling by law and rule by the rule of law. Ruling by law is creating laws which are self-serving. Rule of law is governing a country through, justiciable, and internationally recognised but predictable fair legal frameworks.

Visit the ZimRights fact sheet

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