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Political
violence report: January 2006 - Overview
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
March 02, 2006
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Overview
The month of January was relatively quiet in terms of political
violence. This can be attributed to a number of reasons. The split
in the MDC, following a decision on 12 October 2005, resulted in
a pro-senate and an anti-senate faction being formed with one faction
fielding candidates in November 26 Senate Elections and the other
deciding not to. This contributed to the decreased incidence of
political violence in the period. This split undoubtedly gave the
ruling ZANU-PF party the impression that there was no credible opposition
with which to contend so giving the MDC space to continue with their
very public and acrimonious disagreements. Another reason is possibly
that there are no elections in sight at the moment so there is no
need for campaigning. The trend is generally that political violence
is greatly increased during election periods.1
Despite the
relative calm in the month, the right to freedom of expression was
grossly violated by the state when Voice Of the People (VOP) trustees
were aggressively sought after by the police. The right above is
perennially violated by the state in its bid to silence dissenting
views and alternative sources of information. The VOP trustees,
who presented themselves to the police on 24 January 2006, were
said to be in contravention of section 7 (1) as read with paragraph
(4) and (5) of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA). In the process,
two employees of one of the trustees, Mr. Arnold Tsunga, were arrested
at his house and were detained without charge under the guise of
obstructing the course of justice when the police were not able
to find him. The two were unlawfully detained for more than the
prescribed 48 hours and were not given food while in custody. The
Forum urges the police and the Government to respect the right to
freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.
In a related
incident, a reporter Sydney Saize, was reportedly arrested for breaching
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
even though he was not practicing as a journalist. The charges were
that he was practicing without accreditation as stipulated under
AIPPA. The Forum continues to implore the Government to repeal or
amend this restrictive legislation along with other repressive legislation
including the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) and the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA) as highlighted in the Resolution of the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the situation
of human rights in Zimbabwe during its 38th Ordinary
Session in Banjul, The Gambia from 21 November to 5 December 2005.
Totals: 1
January-31 January 2006
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Human Rights NGO Forum fact
sheet
1. See our December
2005 Monthly Political Violence Report
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