awareness, particularly to outlying communities. In the build-up to the elections, on 27 March 2018, the Commission partnered with CSOs the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGHO Forum and ZimRights to host a Knowledge Exchange Seminar with an objective of facilitating knowledge sharing and cooperation between civil society and Independent Commissions. In August the ZHRC issued a statement condemning post-election violence, including the 1 August killings of 7 protestors by security forces, and criticising the army for attacking civilians. The statement called upon all political leaders to encourage their followers to respect the political rights and opinions of others and to stop politically motivated human rights violations. her commission needed $5 million for its programmes but were promised $1,4 million for 2018.56 National Peace and Reconciliation Commission The NPRC conducted nationwide stakeholder engagements beginning in February to solicit input from the public and determine its first areas of focus. The NPRC finalised a national strategy document outlining its plans and publicly released it in October. In October, the NPRC commended the screening of journalist Zenzele Ndebele's documentary in Bulawayo on the Gukurahundi genocide, after the ZRP had threatened to halt the screening on the basis that the documentary had not been cleared by the Censorship Board. Zimbabwe Gender Commission The Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) is operationalised through the Zimbabwe Gender Commission Act [Chapter 10:31]. This Commission worked well to some extent. The ZGC carried out a pre-election assessment from 2-6 July 2018 followed by monitoring of the elections from 27 July to 2 August 2018 in all the country's 10 provinces and provided important insights and recommendations around participation of women in elections. For the most part however, the ZGC appeared silent and inactive. The ZGC was especially criticised for failing to take concrete action in lobby and advocacy as well as community awareness on issues to do with child marriages. The agenda of fighting child marriages was primarily championed by civil society organisations. In significant part funding challenges affected the work of the Commission. The Zimbabwean newspaper, Newsday noted in an article, citing the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Gender Chairperson Biata Nyamupinga, that “The Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) has been hit by staff shortages, amid reports that it has four of the required staff complement of 52 officers.” Of these reported four officers, three were seconded from other ministries and one funded by a development partner.55 The ZGC chairperson Margaret Sangarwe disclosed that Zimbabwe Media Commission The ZMC was probably one of the most dormant commissions, with little visibility in addressing media-related human rights issues. Yet the media space called for attention. Propaganda and misinformation in State-controlled media was at high levels. The politicisation of the media itself pointed to a failure of the Commission to discharge its mandate. Community radios remained unlicensed, and restrictions for foreign media to operate remained in place. Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Despite delivering the 2018 elections, ZEC lacked in transparency and accountable. ZEC relied on the law, and disregarded the law as and when it found convenient. In the words of one human rights campaigner: “ZEC makes the right to vote so difficult to express”. Bias was also seen in the operations of ZEC, such as the design of an uneven ballot paper that had no justification serve to prop-up one candidate, the incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa. ZEC was staffed by many retired army personnel within its ranks. The army, by extra-legal design or by default in Zimbabwe is seen as an extension of the ruling party. There was therefore serious suspicion regarding the command approach to elections 55. “Staff shortages cripple Gender Commission” Newsday, 6 February 2017. 56. “Gender commission bemoans underfunding” Newsday, 27 November 2017. 67 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018