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Summary
on politically-motivated human rights and food-related violations
- April 2011
Zimbabwe
Peace Project (ZPP)
May 27, 2011
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Politically
motivated human rights violations continued to be recorded during
the month of April despite a slight deep in incidents of violence
as compared to the March figures. There has been slight decline
in incidents of politically motivated human rights violations during
the month under review where 977 cases were recorded compared to
the 1 188 witnessed in March.
The decline
could be attributed to the fact that the Zanu PF anti-sanctions
campaign had managed to sweep across many areas of the country since
its official launch by President Robert Mugabe beginning of March.
However the talk of possible elections in 2011 by Zanu PF stalwarts
has heightened tensions among communities.
The highest
number of violations during the month of April were witnessed
in 2008 in the lead up to the inconclusive presidential election
run-off when 4 380 cases were witnessed. The violations eased significantly
in 2009 with 1 490 cases being recorded following the consummation
of the inclusive government in February that year while in 2010
there were 959 cases.
Political intolerance
reared its ugly face to the country's political scene in the
month of April when the country's main political parties were
commemorating Independence Day together for the third time since
the establishment of the inclusive government.
Despite calls
from the political leaders to shun violence, politically motivated
human rights violations continued to be witnessed throughout the
country.
A close look
at the incidents of the violations tend to show that cases of harassments,
intimidation and assaults have remained high in the Midlands, Manicaland,
Masvingo, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central provinces.
Zimbabwe Peace
Project (ZPP) has observed that most of the violations that were
recorded in April were concentrated on the days leading to the April
18, Independence Day celebrations when victims were harassed on
the basis of failing to contribute money for the celebrations and
putting on political party or civil society regalia.
Political tensions
have been heightened throughout the country as the country's
political leadership from mainly Zanu PF and the MDC-T have already
started preparing for the holding of elections. This has been specifically
so, following the SADC resolutions
on Zimbabwe passed in Livingstone, Zambia, towards the end of
March.
Intra-party
violence has also been witnessed throughout the month within Zanu
PF and the MDC-T. The infighting within the MDC-T was directly linked
to the party's national congress held towards the end of the
month.
For Zanu PF,
the fighting has been ongoing as new candidates are facing a stiff
resistance from the party's heavy weights in the fight to
represent the party during the next general elections.
The talk of an election road map by the SADC facilitation team on
Zimbabwe has also led to the number of politically motivated human
rights violations remaining very high. Zanu PF and the other political
parties have already started their campaigns across the country.
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