families and communities in the affected areas, taking note of their challenges
and needs. These interactions informed the findings of the monitoring mission.
The ZHRC noted that access to Chimanimani, which was the hardest hit district,
remained a major challenge at the time of the monitoring visit. Most of the road
infrastructure, in particular bridges, in the affected areas was extensively
damaged. Access to communities such as those at Kopa and Rusitu remained
difficult because of the damaged infrastructure. However, the Commission
team managed to access areas such as Chipinge Urban, Silverstream, Skyline,
Machongwe and Ngangu. The findings and recommendations of this first visit
report are therefore informed and limited to the above mentioned areas
monitored by the ZHRC. The ZHRC is scheduled to make a series of monitoring
and assessment visits to all the affected provinces, districts and communities
and produce reports for use by the Government of Zimbabwe and its partners
in dealing with the human rights issues emerging out of the disaster situation.
This will continue until the situation in the affected areas is restored to normalcy.
Whilst the above access challenges were encountered by the monitoring team,
the ZHRC applauds the commendable efforts by Government and its partners
to restore electricity supply, reconstruct damaged roads and bridges, and repair
communication infrastructure.
3. Findings
The ZHRC made the following findings from the monitoring mission;
3.1.
The right to life which is provided for in Section 48 of the Constitution
was affected by the cyclone. The DA for Chimanimani highlighted that
about 169 people had been confirmed dead and 328 were missing in the
district as of the 28th of March 2019.The highest number of deaths were
recorded in Ngangu and Kopa. While the search and rescue teams were
still on the ground, hope had been lost of ever finding survivors from the
long list of missing persons.
3.2.
Landslides and floods resulted in the destruction of infrastructure and
houses. Some families were left without suitable shelter or no shelter at
all. The affected people were living at centres such as church buildings,
3