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ZPP Monthly Monitor - March
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)
May 02, 2012

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Executive Summary

Politically motivated human rights violations continued on the upward trend as the talk of holding elections this year gathered momentum. The elections mantra was also laced with attacks on the constitution making process as the Zanu PF leadership threatened to go for an election with or without a new constitution.

Inter and intra-party fighting has been recorded in some provinces as the main political parties gear themselves for the elections. Intra-party fights were recorded within Zanu PF in Manicaland as the party was restructuring its district leadership. The same goes for the MDC-T where supporters fought against each other at a rally in Marondera, Mashonaland East Province.

The ZPP also reported a suspected murder of a war veteran in Mashonaland East Province by unknown assailants. A teacher and member of the MDC-T from Murehwa North constituency was allegedly picked up by the police in connection with the matter but was later released without charge.

There was a rise in the number of violations recorded during the month of March to 475 up from the 413 witnessed during the month of February. However, compared to the same period as illustrated in figure 1 the levels seen so far are still low than in previous periods. The increase could be attributed to the magnified talk of elections and the Zanu PF restructuring exercise.

An analysis of the violations trends during the month of March over the past five years reveals that the month has always had more incidents compared to the other months. The highest number of violations during the month of March was witnessed in 2009 with 1 552 cases. This was during the period when people were confused on how the inclusive government was going to work and an upsurge in revenge cases was the result.

Politically motivated human rights violations in March 2010 eased a bit to 908 cases only to increase in February 2011 to 1 127 as the Zanu PF anti-sanctions petition campaign intensified. Cases of politically motivated violence remain high and the atmosphere has remained volatile in the Midlands, Manicaland and Masvingo provinces with a significant rise in Mashonaland West Province.

During the month under review Zimbabwe appeared at the 19th session of the Human Rights Council where the Zimbabwean delegation made a decision to consider a further 31 recommendations, including to combat trafficking in persons, to operationalise the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, to combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS, to improve the health and education system, and to strengthen the country's social safety nets for the general welfare of the people.

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