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Political violence report: Overview - February 2008
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
March 28, 2008

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Overview
As Zimbabwe draws close to the harmonised elections on 29 March 2008, politically motivated violence continues albeit at a lower level than in 2007. This report documents widespread and rampant use of violence by members of the various political formations in Zimbabwe especially ZANU (PF) supporters.

Furthermore, there is ongoing evidence that state security agents continue to show impartiality in their treatment of members of the opposition. The Human Rights Forum notes that the occurrences recorded in this report, in which members of the opposition have been arrested and assaulted on the basis of their political affiliation, point to a breach of the regional standards for elections set by the "SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections" adopted in Mauritius in 2004. For instance, Section 2, entitled Principles for Conducting Democratic Elections, states among others that 'SADC member states shall adhere to the following principles in the conduct of democratic elections:

• full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• freedom of association and
• political tolerance'.

However, as this report will show, the Government of Zimbabwe has failed to honour some of these obligations. For example, the ruling party has failed to exercise political tolerance in a number of situations. In February, ruling party leaders, particularly President Robert Mugabe, used inflammatory language during their speeches, which amounts to hate speech. For instance during his birthday speech and at rallies he referred to his presidential opponents as traitors and sell-outs, political witches, political prostitutes, political charlatans and two-headed political creatures. He referred to opposition candidate Makoni as "worse than a political prostitute" and likened him to lice that can be easily crushed.¹

On the freedoms of assembly and association, Zimbabwean security forces continue to criminalise demonstrations and descend violently on demonstrators. This report documents 410 violations of the freedom of assembly and association, a marked increase from the January figure of 96. This marked increase in the denial of these rights and freedoms is an indication of the closing of political space by the Government of Zimbabwe to prevent the opposition and human rights activists from freely campaigning. The Human Rights Forum notes that for elections to be free and fair, all political parties must be allowed to campaign freely in the period leading up to elections. They must have the right to hold meetings and rallies in order to explain their policies to the electorate, from whom they seek votes.
A clear case of the abuse of power was exhibited when alleged ZANU-PF supporters abducted and severely assaulted 9 senior officials and members of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) before handing them over to the police. The members were distributing fliers on the deteriorating conditions in the education sector. This report also documents the assault of a man in Budiriro by suspected ZANU PF supporters for wearing an MDC t-shirt. A total of 45 assaults were recorded in the month of February as well as 10 cases of torture, a significant increase from the January total of 2. It is however noted that the number of cases of torture for February 2008 are lower than those of February 2002 another election year. The Human Rights Forum is of the view that this reduction in the cases of torture may be due to the significant amount of publicity given to the violations that occurred during the 2000 and 2002 election periods both locally and internationally.

Students continue to be treated as a political threat to national security as they agitate for the Government of Zimbabwe to resolve the problems plaguing the tertiary education sector in Zimbabwe. Seven students were assaulted and arrested in Bulawayo during a demonstration while three others were arrested and subsequently tortured in Harare on the same day during another student protest. The Human Rights Forum strongly condemns the criminalisation of student activities and calls upon the ZRP to desist from the unnecessary use of force on peaceful demonstrations.

1. Hate speech has been a serious concomitant of the violence, and its association with violence, both during and between elections, has been a cause of concern for the Human Rights Forum. Here see Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2007), Their Words Condemn Them: The Language of Violence, Intolerance and Despotism in Zimbabwe, May 2007, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM.

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