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ZPP Monthly Monitor - August
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)
September 17, 2012

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Executive Summary

The political environment in Zimbabwe deteriorated considerably in August due to the impasse in the Constitution-making exercise. The month of August witnessed a significant rise in incidents of politically motivated human rights violations as a direct result of the political impasse.

There were 462 cases recorded during the month under review up from the 375 incidents recorded during the month of July.

The COPAC led process stalled: raising political tension and deepening polarization as the partners in the Global Political Agreement took hardened and opposing positions on the COPAC draft constitution which ironically- was co-authored by their representatives in the Constitutional Parliamentary select committee (COPAC).

ZANU-PF rejected the COPAC draft and insisted on forcing its own amendments into the draft constitution. The party launched a vilification campaign against the draft labelling it "a gay instrument of neo-colonialism".

Meanwhile, its partners in the coalition government - the two MDC formations - have endorsed the draft and praised it as a progressive document, setting the scene for a constitutional referendum that might lead to a bruising political contest.

The national census program was turned into a fiasco as soldiers and other members of state security agencies invaded the enumerator training centers across the country seeking to impose themselves on the program and displace teachers alleging that they were aligned to the two MDC formations who wanted to use the exercise as a platform to campaign for their parties.

Reports from across the country indicate that their motive was not political but material as the hefty allowance set aside for enumerators was the actual incentive for them to seek to muscle in on the program.

An analysis of the violations trends over the past five years shows that the month of August has had fewer cases of human right violations since 2008 where 964 cases were recorded two months after the ill-fated June 27 Presidential run-off.

The violations continued on a downward trend in 2009 where 527 cases were recorded only to increase in the year 2010 to 848 reported cases while 720 incidents were witnessed in August 2011.

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