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Zimbabwe: African Rights Letter
Zimbabwe: African Rights Letter
Date distributed (ymd): 010922
Document reposted by APIC
Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information
service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa
Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American
Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for
Africa at
http://www.africapolicy.org
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Southern Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
+security/peace+
SUMMARY CONTENTS:
This posting contains a press release and open letter from African
Rights in London, concerning the crisis in Zimbabwe. The letter
supports the efforts by leaders of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to pressure Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on
issues including human rights and political violence, but warns
that continued involvement from regional leaders, including
engagement with Zimbabwean civil society and human rights groups,
is required.
The African Rights letter follows the most recent summit of a SADC
delegation of heads of state with President Mugabe and his
political opponents in Harare, and the Nigerian-initiated
Commonwealth meeting in Abuja at which Zimbabwe joined in a
declaration addressing land reform and the rule of law. The text of
the Abuja agreement is also included at the end of this posting.
For related current news, see:
http://allafrica.com/zimbabwe
and
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/archive/zimbabwe.phtml
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
African Rights
The Crisis in Zimbabwe
An Open Letter to President Bakili Muluzi, Chairman of SADC
September 17, 2001
For further information contact African Rights at: (+ 44 207) 947
3276 or by fax (+ 44 207) 947 3201 or by e-mail:
[email protected]
Zimbabwe remains hostage to the demands of so-called war veterans
and the leaders who direct their activities, despite recent
initiatives aimed at resolving the crisis. African Rights has
written to the chairman of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to express support for the SADC leaders' efforts
to halt Zimbabwe's political and economic decline. In the letter we
highlight our remaining concerns.
During meetings in Harare last week, the SADC heads of state
acknowledged many of the problems facing Zimbabwean people,
resisting state propaganda claiming that a legitimate struggle for
black economic liberation is taking place. The leaders' collective
decision to discuss human rights violations as well as the farm
invasions and the issue of land redistribution was significant and
welcome.
The forthright approach of the SADC task force in Harare is to be
commended, but African Rights believes that it must be followed up
immediately with a more comprehensive initiative to understand and
respond to the roots of the crisis. Based upon previous research
and monitoring of human rights and justice issues in Zimbabwe,
African Rights points out that the events in Zimbabwe are the
consequence of a political strategy. Although the need for land
redistribution has an origin and a life beyond its manipulation by
the ruling party, it has been used in this instance as a
smokescreen for political violence aimed at eradicating organized
opposition and dissent. Unless the SADC leaders confront this
reality directly and consistently, their initiatives aimed at
promoting stability will fail to have impact.
African Rights notes with regret the omission of important
Zimbabwean civic organizations and human rights groups from the
agenda of the SADC leaders during their meetings in Harare. If the
proposed SADC ministerial task force is to grasp, and find ways to
address, the full dimensions of the crisis in Zimbabwe, it must
engage fully with this sector of Zimbabwean society. Zimbabwe has
a vibrant civil society with a wide variety of groups committed to,
and capable of representing, the interests of citizens who lack a
voice in the political arena. SADC representatives should urgently
meet with the members of the National Constitutional Assembly, the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, and the Zimbabwe Crisis Committee,
amongst others, and should take their assessments into account as
they try to determine the best way forward.
Looking to the immediate future, the SADC, and the international
community as a whole, must find ways to convince the Government of
Zimbabwe to establish a series of mechanisms aimed at preventing
human rights violations and securing political stability.
African Rights has listed in its ten-page letter some of the cases
of torture described by victims of election-related violence in the
parliamentary ballot in 2000. Overwhelmingly the perpetrators of
violence during this period were organised gangs of Zanu (PF)
supporters, often with links to high-ranking members of the party.
Their activities continue, as Zanu (PF) thuggery and intimidation
during elections, by- elections and election challenges over the
past 18 months has shown. The most recent example was the violence
surrounding the Bulawayo mayoral elections last week.
The Zanu (PF) perpetrators of political violence during the
elections have remained above the law, in part because of a
presidential amnesty. As long as the individuals responsible for
torture are given impunity by the state, there can be little hope
of reining them in. African Rights point out the need for an
inquiry into the political violence since 2000 and for a tribunal
to bring the perpetrators to justice.
In recognition of the fact that presidential elections are
imminent, African Rights calls for international election monitors
to be present in the country from now until the ballot and in the
sensitive period which will follow the result. Equally, without
reform in the electoral machinery, allegations of state rigging,
such as those made during the Bulawayo mayoral elections, will
remain highly credible. The present system is not capable of
preventing state manipulation of the results.
Zimbabwe cannot afford the disastrous consequences that an election
marred by allegations of intimidation and violence would produce.
The legitimacy of the current government is already weakened by
popular awareness that it pursued victory by means of violence in
2000. Without a framework to secure peaceful presidential
elections, the lives of more Zimbabweans will be lost or devastated
and the economy and stability of the country and the region will
become even more perilous.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe
An Open Letter to President Bakili Muluzi, Chairman of SADC
President Bakili Muluzi
The Office of the President and the Cabinet
Central Government Office
Private Bag
Lilongwe 301, Malawi
17 September 2001
Dear President Muluzi
African Rights is an organization which carries out research on
human rights, conflict and justice, and provides a platform for
Africans who are the victims of injustice and oppression. We are
writing to you, as chairman of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), to voice support for the work of the task force
recently set up to address the situation in Zimbabwe and to
highlight the issues we believe it should now focus upon.
The meeting of six Southern African heads of state in Harare on
10-11 September demonstrated a commitment to the search for
solutions in this troubled nation, which we welcome. In the
aftermath of this visit, we urge you, as SADC chairman, to monitor
the situation closely and take concrete steps to improve the
prospects for an end to all violence, tackling the roots of the
political crisis which is shaking the country. We are concerned
that, within days of its signature, the Government of Zimbabwe
stood in violation of the terms of the Abuja agreement reached with
the Commonwealth delegation in Nigeria on 6 September. It is
apparent that neither the Abuja agreement nor the SADC mission will
have a significant impact unless, in the weeks to come, the
proposed SADC ministerial task force addresses the full dimensions
of the crisis in Zimbabwe which, as all concerned are aware, extend
beyond the land invasions.
There is a pressing need to seek solutions for the rural poor in
Zimbabwe and to introduce a comprehensive land redistribution
programme. The agreement reached by the Commonwealth delegation in
Abuja may yet offer an opportunity to launch such a programme.
However, it would be mistaken, in the present environment, to
imagine that solutions can be found by this route alone. Agreements
on the land issue might provide some relief for white farmers; they
may even help to quell violence in some rural areas. They will not,
however, provide security for the people of Zimbabwe and guarantee
their democratic rights in the months to come, even if linked to
commitments to restore the rule of law.
Attacks upon farmworkers and white farmers cannot be divorced from
the state- sponsored onslaught against members and suspected
supporters of opposition parties, journalists and members of the
judiciary. The determination to eradicate the political opposition,
which began around the parliamentary elections and is being
sustained in the run up to presidential elections, is at the centre
of the crisis. Unless SADC leaders confront this fact directly and
consistently, their efforts will achieve little and will prove a
huge disappointment to the people of Zimbabwe�an outcome that you
will of course wish to avoid.
The SADC leaders have already proven their determination to find
answers to the crisis, which has had an effect beyond Zimbabwe's
borders. It is clear that they, above all, are conscious of the
urgency. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa
and other countries are making contingency plans for refugees, a
burden they can ill afford. However, it is important that, as you
seek to ensure the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe, your
energies are not deflected by the nationalist rhetoric in which
President Robert Mugabe has dressed his struggle for political
survival.
All Africans should support efforts to redress the wrongs of
colonialism and President Mugabe was once regarded as a liberation
hero by many Africans. But he no longer stands for the rights of
all black Zimbabweans. He now represents the interests of a
minority who are beneficiaries of the short-sighted and destructive
policies he has pursued in recent years. Black Zimbabweans, like
their white counterparts, are suffering from misrule and denial of
freedom under his regime. Without the continued intervention of
African leaders, in collaboration with the wider international
community, the lives and livelihoods of many more people inside the
country will be destroyed. The consequences will not only be
suffered by Zimbabwe, but threaten to undermine positive moves
towards the rehabilitation of the continent as a whole.
African Rights has published several reports on justice issues in
Zimbabwe, including examining the need and potential for land
reform. We would like to bring to your attention our assessment of
the nature of the problems currently afflicting the nation, and
suggestions for the way forward. Our understanding is based upon
past interviews with victims of human rights abuses in rural and
urban areas, as well as observations of events in the past year. In
particular, our findings in the run up to parliamentary elections
in 2000 gave us insight into the reasons for Zimbabwe's downslide
into insecurity and economic ruin and the prerequisites for
establishing stability and growth. We write to you as fellow
Africans with deep concern for all the people of Zimbabwe whose
civil and political rights, as well as their social and economic
rights, are being crushed. What is at stake now is not simply the
right of black Zimbabweans to reclaim the land they were robbed of
under colonial rule, but the right of all Zimbabweans to a life
without fear and hunger and their entitlement to the protection of
the state.
The background to the volatile climate now prevailing in Zimbabwe
is worth reflecting upon. Although political discontent has been
expressed in popular protest since 1997, not so long ago Zimbabwe
was an economic and political asset to the SADC region. In 1996,
African Rights found many encouraging signs when it conducted
research into the issue of access to justice for ordinary people in
Zimbabwe. Since then the situation has deteriorated rapidly.
In June 1999, African Rights published a paper which scrutinised
the government's handling of the "food riots" of the previous year;
its relationship with the independent media; and its approach to
land resettlement and constitutional reform, among other questions.
It concluded that the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union
Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) sought to monopolise power at the expense
of accountability and good governance. It drew attention to the
government's disregard for the rule of law and for international
human rights standards in its attempts to silence dissenting voices
from the political arena, civic organizations and the press.
As parliamentary elections approached, the lengths to which the
government was prepared to go to ensure victory were made apparent.
In a report in March 2000, African Rights documented early
incidents of political violence in the pre-election period.
Overwhelmingly, it found members of Zanu (PF) to be the aggressors,
despite efforts by the government and the state-owned media to
portray members of the opposition movement, in particular the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as responsible. We wrote to
President Robert Mugabe, calling upon him to condemn political
violence and to put in place a range of reforms necessary to allow
free and fair elections. Instead of responding to the mounting
criticism of the electoral process from a range of groups inside
and outside the country and other governments, the President
stepped up his inflammatory rhetoric. He openly warned his
political opponents that "death will befall" them. So began a
state-sponsored campaign of violence and intimidation aimed at
securing a Zanu (PF) victory. This campaign continues today. All
the indications are that there will be no respite, and that the
violence could intensify as the presidential elections draw nearer.
The first signs that organized violence would be the backbone of
Zanu (PF)'s election strategy came soon after the party's defeat in
a referendum on constitutional reform in February 2000. Aware that
their popularity had slumped, Zanu (PF) leaders began warning the
political opposition and its supporters of what was to come. They
intensified hate speeches against the opposition and the white
population, constantly alleging that the MDC in particular was a
"front" for white interests.
Although only a small minority of the population is white, Zanu
(PF) found it convenient to blame them for engineering its
referendum defeat, citing their objection to a controversial land
clause in the draft constitution. The party then openly encouraged
and covertly organized the invasions of hundreds of white-owned
farms arguing that whites were blocking land redistribution and
therefore the use of force to "reclaim" the land was inevitable. It
allocated Z$20 million to the Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), which it declared was to "spearhead"
its election campaign. This money was spent on orchestrating the
farm invasions and political violence.
Under the smokescreen of asserting the rights of black Zimbabweans
to the land stolen from them under colonialism, Zanu (PF) presented
the land invasions as a popular uprising against white domination.
There was and remains a fundamental need to restore land rights to
black Zimbabweans and to reverse the plight of the rural poor�still
eking out a living in over-farmed communal areas, in part because
of Zanu (PF)'s own policy failures. But the land invasions were not
directed at these aims. Instead, they were the key element of the
ruling party's strategy to remain in power, providing a context in
which human rights abuses could be perpetrated with impunity. This
tactic paralleled the way in which the "dissident problem" in
Matabeleland in the 1980s was used as an alibi for a murderous
offensive intended to crush Zanu (PF)'s earlier rival, the Zimbabwe
African People's Union (Zapu) and its supporters.
Zanu (PF) has manipulated the land issue to provide a pretext for
political violence, seeking to justify abuses against white farmers
and black farm workers by presenting them as the closing chapter of
the liberation struggle, supposedly being fought by war veterans.
It soon became apparent that the invaders were not acting
independently, and that many were not even war veterans, but either
hired thugs or youths hoping to benefit economically. Police have
been ordered not to intervene in the invasions, dealing a blow to
the administration of law and order from which it will not easily
recover.
The invasions had a practical purpose as well as an ideological
one, forming the main arteries for the spread of terror tactics.
The invaders were the basis for rudimentary militia groups created
to target opposition members and bring fear to the same rural
communities they purported to be representing. Although in some
instances policemen did their best to enforce the law regardless of
the circumstances, invariably they stood back, not just from the
farm violence, but from any attacks deemed "political."
It is a matter of public knowledge in Zimbabwe that the Zanu (PF)
leadership incited and condoned the politically-motivated violence
which occurred in the run up to the elections and which continues
to injure Zimbabweans. This was confirmed by the fact that the
state security forces time and again failed to carry out the duties
expected of them. But the party's responsibility extends further
than this. The victims of violence have identified high-ranking
Zanu (PF) members, including some individuals who are in government
today, as involved in either perpetrating or directly sponsoring
human rights abuses. Governors, parliamentary candidates and party
officials organized the violence. War veterans and the youth form
the frontline of the campaign, but behind them are operatives of
the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) and members of the
police and army.
Zimbabweans have learnt the limits of their freedom during the 2000
elections and since. Although the opposition MDC secured 57 of the
120 contested seats in the parliamentary elections this was not
indicative of a fair ballot; it merely showed just how far support
for Zanu (PF) had fallen. African Rights judged the 2000
parliamentary elections to have been neither free nor fair and
regarded the result as illegitimate in many constituencies. 20
years after independence, a party once celebrated as a liberator
tore democracy to shreds. The government targeted communities all
over the country, even in its political strongholds. People were
threatened into voting for Zanu (PF) and punished for links with
opposition parties with murder, torture, rapes and beatings.
Thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans, mostly black rural dwellers,
were terrorised into submission.
All manner of brutality has been inflicted upon people considered
to be opponents of Zanu (PF) and their relatives and friends since
the ruling party unleashed its terror and this continues today.
Sometimes bystanders have been caught up in the violence, or people
have been attacked indiscriminately by gangs who had lost control.
But the campaign depends upon identifying and targeting opposition
supporters and this has been systematically done. The attackers
often target families: in some cases the children of opposition
supporters have been beaten; in others it is their parents who have
endured physical injuries and psychological pressure.
African Rights has seen more than 1000 reports of political
violence taken from victims of political violence by a coalition of
local human rights groups, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum in
the run up to and since the parliamentary elections. These reports
include murder, torture, rape, assault, illegal arrest and
detention, arson, intimidation, threats, robbery and property
damage, but they can only hint at the extent of the psychological
impact of these events upon individuals, families and communities.
African Rights has also witnessed at first hand the wounds and
heard the pain of many victims of election-related violence. Their
stories and the distress they showed in telling them were both
convincing on an individual basis and given added weight by their
consistency with each other. With astonishing certainty, people
identified Zanu (PF) supporters as responsible for the crimes
committed against them. Sometimes victims knew their individual
attackers by name, profession or party rank. Perpetrators generally
made their loyalties and intentions clear.
Accounts told by victims of human rights abuses are difficult to
forget. They cut through the political rhetoric which President
Mugabe and other members of the government have employed to try and
present events in Zimbabwe as a struggle for black empowerment.
While not forgetting the torture and abuse many whites have been
subjected to, it is important to remember that most of the victims
of Zanu (PF) violence have been black. The incidents of torture
which took place during the 2000 election campaign are
well-documented by local human rights groups, not only with
testimonies but with medical reports. The broad sweep of the
violence was of merciless assaults. With unsophisticated weapons,
ranging from knobkerries, axes, knives, whips and bicycle chains,
Zanu (PF) gangs beat people without restraint, leaving many of
their victims unconscious and some dead.
The experiences of a female teacher from Chikwake village in
Goromonzi were typical of the violence surrounding the 2000
parliamentary elections. As the women's secretary for the
opposition MDC she was an immediate target and was assaulted twice
before she fled her home. Although she knows the identity of some
of her assailants, she did not report the crime because she
believed that "the police are working with the Zanu (PF) thugs.
They have never helped anyone when they have been beaten."
After a meeting of the MDC around our township, we were
apprehended by some Zanu (PF) supporters. They told us to come
and surrender our cards and T-shirts. They began to beat me.
They made me lie down and they beat me on the back. [Later]
they came to fetch me from my home and told me: 'We want you
to die, because you are an MDC member.'
They said that I had MDC cards and T-shirts but I didn't. One
of them, whom I didn't know, said: "I want to kill you." There
were about 15 to 18 of them. They beat me harder that time,
until I was unconscious. When I woke up, I ran and found a
place to hide myself. Then I moved to my home after several
hours. My children came to tell me that they had come to the
house in the meantime. I told my husband everything. He cried.
We decided to leave then, but I left two children behind
because they were in school, one in form four, and one in form
three. I brought the other three with me.
I know the people who beat me. Shem and Titus have a gang;
they are Zanu (PF) youths and they live in Bosha village.
But there were also instances of more sophisticated torture. Many
people were abducted and taken to buildings where gangs of Zanu
(PF) supporters had set up camp. There they would be subjected to
falanga and sometimes to electrocution as well as assault. One
young man told of how he was taken from his home on 16 June at 1:00
a.m. to a house in Msasa where Zanu (PF) members had gathered.
They began beating me and pouring cold water from a bucket
over me, saying: "You are an MDC member." They forced me to
say more about the MDC, including the whereabouts of other
members and the leaders. They demanded to know why I refused
to wear a Zanu (PF) T-shirt.
There were at least 11 of them in the house. They took me into
the toilet, and made me stand on a square of iron sheet (about
30cm by 30 cm). They then connected jump leads to the sheet,
and passed electricity through it. They made me stand on it
for 2-3 hours. Sometimes I fell down, and sometimes I lay on
the walls. Then they brought me out and told me to take off
all my clothes. I did so, and they told me to lie on the lawn.
Then they said: "Today is the end of your life if you don't
tell us more about the MDC." But I refused, and when they
realized that they couldn't make me, they told me to go into
the house.
The victim discovered the house belonged to the then Zanu (PF)
candidate for Mufakose, Sabina Thembani, when she arrived to
witness his torture. He was beaten extensively and finally released
late on the evening of the following day. An independent medical
examination later noted his serious pain and swollen testes. The
methods of torture used in this instance were designed to avoid
leaving the evidence of scars. This particular victim may have no
long-term injuries, but his trauma was all too evident.
In Budiriro, Harare, a building owned by Dr. Chenjerai Hunzvi, once
used as a surgery, was converted into a torture house over the
election period. Several local residents suspected of being MDC
organizers were detained there in confined conditions by a gang of
war veterans. An engineer who worked with an MDC activist was
captured at a bar and taken to the "surgery" on 12 May. He was
ordered to reveal the whereabouts of his colleague and when he
failed to do so, he was subjected to severe torture which left him
unable to work and in deep shock. He gave details of the incident.
They caught me by the hands. There were 12-14 of them. I was
beaten on my buttocks till they were bleeding. They tortured
me on both sides of my body using short circuit electrics
plugged in. This was for about two days. There were about 9
women and 14 men involved. They were always coming and going.
The one who hit me was the commander. At night they put us in
a toilet. There were nine victims when I was there.
Such incidents were early examples of what has now become an
established pattern of violence against suspected and known Zanu
(PF) opponents, including black farmworkers and white farmers.
Unless the Government of Zimbabwe can be brought to its senses we
can expect more of the same and worse. In the past month alone, a
local group, the Amani Trust, has estimated that between 1 January
and 31 August 2001, 23,853 people have been affected by human
rights violations, including 27 deaths and 1,770 assaults. The
organization believes these statistics to be conservative.
The abuses of the past eighteen months are the most devastating in
national terms that the country has known since independence.
However, some members of the Zanu (PF) leadership have previously
been accused of complicity in murder, torture and other human
rights abuses on a massive scale during the 1980s in Matabeleland
and the Midlands. While in power, they have been able to guarantee
impunity for themselves for these earlier crimes as well as
protecting those responsible for political violence carried out on
their behalf. This pattern is being replayed once again. Most of
those who were arrested for political violence in the 2000
elections were released when President Mugabe declared an amnesty
for people accused of political violence, excepting only those
accused of murder. However, no one has been brought to justice for
the murders perpetrated by Zanu (PF) supporters.
The law is being applied selectively in Zimbabwe. Zanu (PF)
stalwarts acting at the behest of their party stand above the law.
Meanwhile, anyone regarded as opposed to the ruling party, either
on ethnic or political grounds, can expect ill treatment at the
hands of the security forces. The horrific death in the police cell
of an MDC member who was imprisoned in Gokwe, on 8 August, speaks
volumes about the attitudes which have been drilled into members of
the police force in the past year. Vusa Mkweli, who became
epileptic following an assault by Zanu (PF) youths during the 2000
elections, was imprisoned on allegations of involvement in
political violence. In custody, he was refused access to his
medicines by police officers, despite his repeated fits. His
cellmate and friend was forced to watch helplessly as Mkweli
endured two days of agony with only minutes between fits in the
final hours before he passed away. Since the 2000 elections, the
energies of the President and Zanu (PF) have been directed at
harnessing the institutions of the state to the control of the
party. Cases like this reveal the effects of this strategy.
The judiciary has also been the focus for political engineering.
Open threats from members of the war veterans association�who
ignored successive court rulings regarding the land invasions�have
taken their toll, with some judges resigning, including the former
Chief Justice. The Supreme Court decision to overturn a
presidential ruling blocking challenges to the parliamentary
election results brought it into the front line politically. The
hearings regarding the results in constituencies where electoral
laws were allegedly broken have gone ahead, but they are usually
held under impossible conditions. Witnesses and complainants have
been beaten and subjected to harassment, to the extent that some
have been unable to testify.
Witnesses for the case challenging the parliamentary election
results in Chikomba, were among those affected. This was confirmed
when three human rights lawyers travelled to Chikomba in response
to reports of witness intimidation. The lawyers arrived to witness
the sight of Zanu PF youths assaulting one of the witnesses. The
assailants then turned upon the lawyers beating one of them
severely. The other two escaped but when they went to the police
station to report the matter, they found their colleague and the
witness at the station, where they had also been beaten by police
officers. Not only did the member-in-charge fail to arrest the
attackers; he threatened all three lawyers and detained them for
several hours.
These are the direct consequences of a policy of creating compliant
security forces by appointing or promoting individuals known to be
loyal to Zanu (PF), often war veterans. Other police officers are
subject to intimidation or transfer. This has enabled the ruling
party to reinforce its violent tactics in the post-election period.
For instance, following a strike organized by the Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in July 2001, soldiers were deployed in
urban areas to terrorize suspected opposition supporters. Several
assaults by soldiers upon unarmed civilians were recorded. In byelections
in Marondera West, Bikita West and Bindura, and in the
mayoral elections in Masvingo, Zanu (PF) again demonstrated its
readiness to employ thuggery in the interests of political victory
as gangs moved in to terrorize voters with blatant threats and
numerous assaults.
Political violence has not been entirely confined to supporters of
the ruling party. Supporters of the MDC have been involved in
clashes with their Zanu (PF) counterparts in the pre and post
election period and in a few instances have been accused of attacks
upon Zanu (PF) members. African Rights condemns all the
perpetrators of violence unreservedly and calls upon opposition
members, as it does upon those of Zanu (PF), to respect the law and
the rights of their fellow Zimbabweans. However, a clear
distinction may be made between individual actions of opposition
party members, which are not condoned by the party leadership and
have often been seen to be defensive or retaliatory, and the
campaign of violence waged by the ruling party.
The events of the post-election period reveal that the party's
determination to hold onto the reins of government has increased as
its support diminishes. The MDC's relative success at the polls
raised the stakes. The tactics Zanu (PF) relied upon to win the
election have now been brought to the centre of its policy agenda,
and entrenched in state institutions. The implications of the
recent creation of a war veterans reserve army were revealed by a
senior member of the war veterans' association, when he publicly
called on the army to provide the veterans with "guns and
retraining in case there is a war." The establishment of a National
Training Service for youth, ostensibly to teach "history and
culture" is also a sinister development given the evidence of Zanu
(PF) techniques of political indoctrination during the
"re-education" sessions that farm workers and some opposition
supporters have been forced to undergo.
Zimbabwe once had a strong justice system, a well-trained
professional police force and army, an educated population, public
services that were admired throughout Africa and vocal civic
organizations. Now the police and the army are being transformed
into an extension of the Zanu (PF) party machinery while the
judiciary has been subject to pressure and political manipulation.
Many parents can no longer afford to send their children to school
and many teachers have been accused of supporting the opposition
and intimidated or attacked. Journalists, members of human rights
organizations and of other independent groups have been threatened
or victimized.
As Africans who know the cost of dictatorship, we ought to
recognize the signs immediately. But acknowledgement of the nature
of the crisis in Zimbabwe has come rather late in Africa. This is
largely because of the shrewd propaganda President Mugabe employs.
His anti-western rhetoric has appealed to some Africans because
many nations are still trapped in the damaging legacy of the
colonial era. We may believe we have a sound case for economic
restitution. But articulating Africa's case for reparations
requires moral leadership and political credibility, neither of
which President Mugabe retains. The chaotic and brutal manner in
which the Government of Zimbabwe has handled the land issue can
only undermine the arguments that Africa is deserving of
compensation and assistance to overcome the ills of the past. He
threatens to discredit new visions which might assist Africans to
engage in the global arena as equals, such as the New African
Initiative. President Mugabe's willingness to mistreat and abuse
Zimbabwean citizens, black and white, ostensibly in the name of an
assertion of black interests, can only debase the legitimate
arguments at stake.
Clearly the need for land redistribution has an origin and a life
beyond its manipulation by the ruling party. The right of black
Zimbabweans to live free of any traces of the discrimination and
abuse they suffered under the colonial regime and racist white
settler rule is at the heart of the matter. This is impossible
while so much of Zimbabwe's richest land has remained in the hands
of white commercial farmers, and a small black political elite. The
racial imbalances in land ownership, which persisted under Zanu
(PF) rule, have recently been exploited by the party for its own
ends. But the genuine need for reform remains. It is to be hoped
that the agreement reached by at Abuja can pave the way for the
necessary measures to improve life for black Zimbabweans living in
poverty.
However, land redistribution cannot satisfy the full range of
Zimbabwean's needs and expectations now and in the future. African
Rights concluded in its 1999 report:
The hunger for land is symptomatic of a broader need -- to redress
historical injustice by securing those rights which people were
robbed of under white settler rule. It was the Zanu (PF) government
which made land such a potent symbol of these rights. The party is
now offering people the symbol empty of its meaning. A plot of land
means nothing without the ability to make it productive, without
access to health, and education and without the assurances of
security, freedom of speech and democratic choice for all. These
are the rights for which the liberation war was fought, and these
are the very rights of which so many are now deprived.
Unfortunately, since we wrote these words, there has been an
all-out assault upon the most basic human rights of the people of
Zimbabwe. As your own initiative reflects, Africans cannot sit back
and watch yet another African country brought to its knees and to
the edge of a bloody conflict. The statements made by SADC leaders
at Harare were appropriately forthright and they have already
forced a shift in the approach of the government. But they must be
followed up by further initiatives demonstrating SADC's solidarity
and practical support for the people of Zimbabwe. We recommend that
once the SADC ministerial task force is established it makes a
priority of examining human rights abuses, and broaches the
question of how to deliver justice and redress for the victims. The
task force should also consider how to improve the prospect for
free and fair elections.
It is unfortunate that the SADC mission to Harare was unable to
encompass meetings with many of the civic and human rights groups
who are at the forefront of efforts to promote the rule of law in
Zimbabwe. We suggest that SADC task force representatives consult
with them now in order to determine the best way forward.
The violence witnessed in Bulawayo following the declaration of an
MDC victory in the mayoral elections suggests that the assurances
made at Abuja were largely hollow. Furthermore the election
emphasized serious weaknesses in the electoral system -- revealing the
opportunities for rigging by the ruling party -- which must be
corrected before it is possible for a fair presidential ballot to
take place.
In the aftermath of its visit to Harare, SADC leaders should aim to
convince President Mugabe and the Zanu (PF) government to put in
place the mechanisms necessary for a free and fair vote in the
forthcoming presidential elections, including agreeing to the
presence of international monitors. It is critically important to
allow international monitors to be present in the country at the
earliest possible date, to enable them to build up an informed
picture of the situation. Equally, there is a need to bring to
account the perpetrators of political violence during the 2000
parliamentary elections; at a minimum an independent inquiry into
the violence of this period and in all the elections and
by-elections since should be established. This would send a message
that murders, assaults and torture will not be tolerated in the
presidential ballot. These initiatives could be a starting place
for President Mugabe to show respect for democratic principles and
to avert the slide of the country into an even deeper crisis than
the needless tragedy we are now witnessing.
Any future instances of political violence, including attacks on
farmers and farmworkers, should be met by direct measures which
recognize the responsibility of the President and members of his
government. There must be constant reminders to those engaged in
the land invasions and acts of brutality upon opposition supporters
that the meaning of liberation is not to repeat many of the sins of
colonial forefathers but to find ways to move Zimbabwe forward
towards realizing its own potential.
Rights, in practise although not in law, have once again become the
preserve of a minority in Zimbabwe -the people whose loyalty to
Zanu (PF) is unquestioned. All other Zimbabweans are vulnerable.
African Rights believes that by engaging in tyranny and racial
persecution, Zanu (PF) leaders have hurt the nation at its core.
They have transgressed the very meaning of "Zimbabwe" as an ideal
of freedom and justice fought for against the oppression of
Rhodesia. If the SADC leaders are to be true to the aims of the
liberation struggles in Southern Africa, they must do all in their
power to defend this ideal.
Yours sincerely,
Rakiya Omaar
Director
Text of the Abuja agreement on Zimbabwe
ABUJA, Sept 7, 2001 (AFP) -
Zimbabwe agreed Thursday at a Commonwealth meeting to end all
illegal occupations of white-owned farmland and return the country
to the rule of law, in return for financial assistance.
The following is the text of the agreement, in full, as presented
by the Nigerian government and signed by all parties. The text was
provided to AFP by the Nigerian Foreign Ministry.
- The meeting recognised that as a result of historical
injustices, the current land ownership and distribution needed to
be rectified in a transparent and equitable manner. It also agreed
on the following:
- Land is at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe and cannot be
separated from other issues of concern to the Commonwealth such as
the rule of law, respect for humman rights, democracy and the
economy. A program of land reform is, therefore, crucial to the
resolution of the problem;
- Such a program of land reform must be implemented in a fair,
just and sustainable manner, in the interest of all the people of
Zimbabwe, within the law and constitution of Zimbabwe;
- The crisis in Zimbabwe also has political and rule of law
implications which must be addressed holistically and
concurrently. The situation in Zimbabwe poses a threat to the
socio-economic stability of the entire sub-region and the
continent at large;
- The need to avoid a division within the Commonwealth,
especially at the forthcoming CHOGM in Brisbane, Australia, over
the situation in Zimbabwe, and
- The orderly implementation of the land reform can only be
meaningful and sustainable if carried out with due regard to human
rights, rule of law, transparency and democratic principles. The
commitment of the government of Zimbabwe is therefore crucial to
this process.
- The committee recognises the need for the adoption of
confidence-building measures to ensure the implementation of the
conclusions of the meeting. In this regard, the meeting welcomed
assurances given by the Zimbabwe delegation as follows:
- Commitment to the Harare Commonwealth Declaration and the
Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme on the Harare Declaration;
- There will be no further occuption of farm lands
- To speed up the process by which farms that do not meet set
criteria are de-listed;
- For farms that are not designated, occupiers would be moved
to legally acquired lands;
- Acceleration of discussions with the UNDP with a view to
reaching agreement as quickly as possible;
- Commitment to restore the rule of law to the process of land
reform programme
- Invitation by the foreign minister to the committee to visit
Zimbabwe.
- The meeting agreed, in the overall context of the statement,
that the way forward is for Zimbabwe's international partners:
- to engage constructively with the UNDP and the government of
Zimbabwe in pursuing an effective and sustainable land reform
programme on the basis of the UNDP proposals of December 2000
- to respond positively to any request from the government of
Zimbabwe in support of the electoral process; and
- to continue to contribute to poverty reduction programmes for
the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe and that those partners
present (Australia, Canada and United Kingdom) would actively
pursue these objectives.
- The meeting also welcomed the re-affirmation of the United
Kingdom's commitment to a significant financial contribution to
such a land reform programme and its undertaking to encourage
other international donors to do the same.
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