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Rights
activists allege crackdown on free speech
IRIN News
November 13, 2006
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56348
HARARE - Human rights activists have
accused the Zimbabwean government of a renewed crackdown on dissenting
voices after two senior opposition members were recently charged
with treason.
Paul Themba Nyathi and Sithatshisiwe
Sibanda, both members of a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
faction, were last week accused of distributing a pamphlet inciting
security forces to rebel.
The pamphlet, allegedly circulated last
month in the southern town of Gwanda, an MDC stronghold, was entitled
'A message to our armed forces' and read in part: "Everybody knows
somebody who is in the police force or army. Our police force and
armed forces are also suffering as a result of the economic collapse.
"They are struggling to pay for food,
health and education because they are poorly paid. Help those people
to help themselves. Help them to do the right thing. Help them to
have courage to say enough is enough. Take this message to them."
Causing despondency among the security
forces is a criminal offence. Nyathi has appeared before a magistrate's
court and the case was remanded to 22 November, while Sibanda is
yet to make a court appearance. If convicted, the opposition officials
risk a 20 year prison sentence.
Aleck Muchadehama, a leading rights lawyer,
described the arrests as an attack on democracy. He said it was
not a criminal offence to highlight the economic plight of soldiers
and police officers, adding that to urge the uniformed forces to
say "enough is enough" was not the same as inciting them to demonstrate
or mutiny.
The salaries of public servants lag way
below the minimum living wage in a country where inflation in hovering
around 1,000 percent. According to the Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe, the cost of living for a family of six
for the month of October surged to about $565, five-times the average
monthly salary of about $150.
Human rights lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe also
said the contents of the pamphlet constituted "fair comment". "As
Zimbabweans, what the arrests effectively mean is that we cannot
discuss things that affect us on a daily basis. It is a known fact
that the civil service, to which soldiers and the police belong,
are paid poor salaries," he explained.
The independent Zimbabwean weekly newspaper,
The Standard, reported that according to the state, "the document
was meant to encourage the police and army to join the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Union [ZCTU] demonstrations against rising
poverty".
The labour movement's protest held in
September against poor salaries, high taxation and a slow rollout
of anti-AIDS drugs was stumped by the security forces, with a dozen
ZCTU members allegedly assaulted and tortured. President Robert
Mugabe defended the police action.
Since Zimbabwe's fast-track land reforms
launched in 2000, the country's economy has gone into freefall.
Unemployment levels have risen above 70 percent, with chronic shortages
of foreign currency. The government blames sanctions imposed by
the west for its economic problems.
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