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Continued human rights violations in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF)
September 21, 2006

Read South African Government's response to this letter

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P.O. Box X152
Pretoria
South Africa

Dear Honourable Minister

We note with mounting concern that serious human rights violations including torture continue to be committed in Zimbabwe with the South African government not taking a stance regarding these crimes against the conscience of mankind.

In the past few days, members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions engaged on a peaceful march that was thwarted by security forces in our country in violation of freedoms enshrined among others, the African Charter. Yesterday the 20th of September 2006, over 150 of the National Constitutional Assembly were also arrested for exercising their freedom of assembly. Of particular concern is that invariable, arrestees are tortured and brutalised in police custody and that the Zimbabwe government continues to defy international law with the seeming backing of South Africa and others on the continent.

Your good offices will realise what has happened in recent days is part of a wider crackdown on civil society organisations and human rights activists. This is in spite of assurances by President Thabo Mbeki in 2004 that repressive legislation in our country will be history by today. The Zimbabwean government's undemocratic practices have been condemned both within Zimbabwe and outside it. Yet, in the face of such brutal repression, repression that forces millions of Zimbabweans into South Africa, your good offices has been deafeningly silent on these atrocities. In fact, the perception is that the South African government has been shielding its counterpart from censure at international and regional platforms, thus giving the unavoidable impression that it is complicity in the repression going on across its northern border.

In view of all this and to dispel these suspicions, the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum is compelled to implore you to issue a statement denouncing the continued violation of fundamental freedoms in Zimbabwe. We urge the South African government to summon the Zimbabwean High Commissioner to South Africa to clarify the situation and to express displeasure over the suppression of human rights.

We thank you in anticipation of your assistance in this matter.

Yours Faithfully

Gabriel Shumba
Executive Director & Human Rights Lawyer

cc: Ministry of Justice
South African Embassy-Zimbabwe

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