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Summary on politically-motivated human rights and food-related violations - February 2009
Zimbabwe Peace Project
March 31, 2010

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The month of February registered an increase in human rights violations with a toll of 979 up from 779 in January 2010. Comparing January and February 2010 trends, the latter had 628 cases of harassment from the 490 in January, while cases of discrimination rose from 45 to 76 and cases of assault rose from 165 to 96. The period under review was largely characterised by a hive of activities in the political arena and most violations in this time are attributable to these activities. The issue of 'illegal economic sanctions' according to ZANU PF led to a protest by youths of the party who gave the Prime Minister until March 24 to have the sanctions removed. The protest was largely in response to the European Union extension of targeted sanctions with a delisting of only deceased members of ZANUPF and Mr. Dumiso Dabengwa. The United States of America followed suit by also extending the targeted sanctions. The announcement by President Robert Mugabe that Zimbabwe would have elections whether the constitutional process succeeds or fails also created anxiety among citizens.

These new developments led to political parties re-strategising and intensifying activities in preparation for the impending events as evidenced by reports of the resurgence of "torture" bases or camps in some provinces including Manicaland (Nyanga North, Buhera North, South and Central and Headlands - Makoni), Midlands (Gokwe Nembudziya and Gokwe Chireya), Mashonaland West (Chegutu) and Harare (Epworth in wards 2,3,4,5, 6 & 7, Harare South and Tafara). These bases are reported to have been established by ZANU PF. The resuscitation of bases is invoking a lot of bad memories from June 2008 and instilling fear in the communities. These provinces are among the top six ranking highest in acts of human rights abuses since 2008.

In February, Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Harare, Midlands and Mashonaland West recorded remarkable increases in actions of politically motivated violations. A close analysis of trends of violence for these provinces in the last four months show that all these provinces save for Harare consistently experienced an upsurge in acts of politically motivated violence. Only the month of January 2010 recorded a decline in political activities probably due to the festive mood. The other 4 provinces namely Mashonaland Central, Bulawayo, Matebeleland North and South Provinces fall into the mild to calm political violence zones. However, for the past two months Mashonaland Central is assuming a hot zone title and this is likely to spread to other provinces in view of the current political activities.

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