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Early warning report: Politically motivated human rights & food related violations - Mar 2009
Zimbabwe Peace Project
June 03, 2009

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Overview

The report documents politically motivated human rights violations one month after the formation of the inclusive government, particularly focusing on the extent to which the formation of the inclusive government has impacted on inter-party violence and food distribution mal-practices at both the macro and micro levels of society. The Report is presented in two sections; the first part focusing on politically motivated human rights violations while the second part documents food-related human rights violations.

The report is presented against the background of the untimely death on 6 March of Susan Tsvangirai [wife to Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister] in a tragic road accident along the Harare-Masvingo highway. Given that this incident occurred at a time when the new inclusive government had just been formed, a slight political mishap on either of the leadership of the two main political parties could have sparked inter-party tension and conflicts across the country.

It is also encouraging to note that since the onset of the new political dispensation, some changes have started to show on the macro front. On the economic front, prices of some basic goods have been stabilising, supermarkets shelves filling up [although with mostly imported goods] while the speculative mindset that had gripped business practices in Zimbabwe is also fast retreating.

The political front has also been witness to some positive developments, among the most relevant ones being the release [though on stringent bail conditions] of most of the 30 political prisoners and human rights activists, among which were Jestina Mukoko, the Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project and the other ZPP staffer, Broderick Takawira. However the continued detention of the remaining three political prisoners, seven with their whereabouts unknown- remain a cause for deep concern as it is against the spirit of the power sharing agreement signed between ZANU PF and the two MDC factions.

On the administrative front, a three-tier ministerial set up comprising ministers drawn from the ZANU PF and the two MDC factions has also been created to spearhead the implementation of the national healing process although delays in rolling out the programme to grassroots levels of society are becoming cause for concern given seething victim-perpetrator relations across the country.

Equally worrying, are perceived delays in clearing outstanding issues relating to the unilateral appointment of provincial governors, central bank governor, Attorney General and permanent secretaries by the President. The Zimbabwe Peace Project implores upon the powers that be to speedily clear these outstanding issues as continued delays on these fundamental matters may be interpreted as lack of sincerity on the implementation of the Global Political Agreement. These delays may also send wrong signals to micro/ grassroots politics.

At grassroots levels it is generally political business as usual. Political mindsets of the past and polarizations are visibly manifest and most communities are still to open space for inter-party participation. Traditional leadership structures [headmen, village heads and chiefs], the local ZANU PF political leadership [councillors and district chairpersons], war veteran structures and even School Development Associations [SDAs] are reportedly still openly showing reluctance to incorporate MDC members, councillors and MPs into community development/political initiatives. It is even distressing to note that in areas where MDC councillors were elected as local leaders, parallel structures ["appointed councillors"] have been hastily formed in order to circumvent formal authority structures. Cases where kraal-heads suspected to be MDC have been stripped of their powers by chiefs have also been reported with a disturbing frequency.

Barely a month after the formation of the inclusive government, fixation in grassroots politics has reportedly shifted to preparations for the forthcoming elections, developments that are likely to see the inclusive agenda sacrificed at the altar of electoral politics. Little is being done at grassroots levels to earnestly explain what is entailed in both the Global Political Agreement and the inclusive Government. In fact, in most outreach speeches, the inclusive government agenda is cast /projected in exclusively transitory terms and thus mistakenly viewed as a process that is secondary to forthcoming elections.

Also worrisome is that despite ZPP early warning exhortations on the need to urgently address issues relating to victim access to remedy, these potentially social threatening issues are yet to be accorded priority attention, scenarios that may see communities regressing into theatres of revenge conflicts. Particularly disconcerting are reports that some perpetrators [allegedly basking under the protection of the partisan police] remain free, showing no remorse and even threatening to repeat their previous atrocities with brazen impunity. Feelings of dejection and rejection have set in among victims of violence, scenarios that may see some resorting to own means to get redress. The Zimbabwe Peace Project recommends that well-thought out reconciliation processes be rolled out to replace fear by non-violence coexistence, love, forgiveness and trust within communities. As the nation treads on this delicate path, it is important to note that long-lasting reconciliation can hardly be achieved through amnesia, that is, an officially imposed form of forgetting.

Some state structures are seemingly yet to recast their mindsets and modus operandi in tandem with the unfolding all inclusive government dispensation. Reports from the ten provinces show that the police continue to selectively apply the Public Order and Security Act [POSA] to curtail the rights to peaceful assembly and association of any organization or individual suspected of being MDC. The law continues to be used to persecute human rights defenders and political activists and discourage them from exercising their rights to bail, freedom of association and expression. The riot police unit of the ZRP continue to use excessive force to break up peaceful demonstrations by human rights defenders and government critics.

In white-owned commercial farms, alleged police and army-led farm invasions, unlawful detentions of white commercial farmers, issuance of 24-hour eviction deadlines to farm owners, looting of farm property, displacements of farm workers and general disruption of farming activities continue with the fury and lawlessness reminiscent of the jambanja era, police maintaining their hands-off trademark, the ZANU PF leadership generally in denial mode while plaintive calls to end these invasions mostly by the two MDC leadership have been reduced to solo cries of John the Baptist in the wilderness. Just in the month of March, farms such as New March and Umfuli Banks farms [in Chegutu East] as well as Chidza and Nesbitt farms [in Masvingo], among others, have been invaded.

Political tolerance score remain disturbingly low and fragile in most communities, reports generally pointing to cross country incidents in which members of the public were still harassed, assaulted or threatened with evictions for petty 'offences" such as different views on politics and the economy, wearing own regalia, listening to studio 7, attending own political party meetings, among others. Following the death of Susan Tsvangirai, reports from across the ten provinces pointed to incidents in which members of the public were harassed, assaulted or even threatened with evictions from their communities allegedly because they had either attended the funeral of Susan Tsvangirai or merely expressed grief in public over her death. In Buhera West [Manicland], inter-party violence between ZANU PF and MDC T supporters flared up immediately after the burial of Susan Tsvangirai leaving in its wake a trail of destruction in which around ten homes, and livestock reportedly belonging to known MDC supporters were razed to the ground.

Against this background we note with deep concern that despite the formation of the inclusive government, human rights violations continue to surge with March recording 1552 from the February recording of 1285. As shown in the Acts Analysis Graph below, by end of March 2009, a cumulative toll of 26 529 had been recorded showing substantial cumulative increases from the January 2008 level of 585.

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