MAY 2018
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Ominous Internal political party processes
Introduction and Statistical Analysis
ABOUT ZPP
The organisation was founded in 2000 by church-based and
human rights organisations. The current members of ZPP are
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), Zimbabwe Council
of Churches (ZCC), Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
in Zimbabwe (CCJPZ), Counselling Services Unit (CSU),
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights), Civic
Education Network Trust (CIVNET), Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) and Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe
(WCoZ).
The primary elections in the two main political
parties, Zanu PF and the MDC-T, continued to
shape political events in May. (The MDC-T
held its primary elections in May, while for
Zanu PF, they were mainly re-runs. Zanu PF’s
primaries were in April). The primary elections ZPP was established with the objective of monitoring,
nearly defined all the incidents of human rights documenting and building peace and promoting the peaceful
resolution of disputes and conflicts. The Zimbabwe Peace
violations in the month. Of the 81 cases that
Project seeks to foster dialogue and political tolerance through
non-partisan peace monitoring activities, mainly through
were recorded in May, almost a 20 percent
monitors who document the violations of rights in the provinces.
decrease from the previous month where 102
The monitors, who at full complement stand at 477 including
cases were recorded – over 75 percent of the Persons with Disability at District level, constitute the core pool
of volunteers, supported by four Regional Coordinators. The
cases were directly connected to the primary
Regional Coordinators relate with the national office headed by
elections. These included incidents of
the National Director and programme officers in various units.
intraparty violence; political victimisation,
intimidation and harassment; coercion and discrimination. It should be noted that
a single case recorded can have multiple human rights violations perpetrated.
Twenty four cases of intraparty political violence, mainly in the MDC-T,
were recorded in May. In contrast, there were only two cases of interparty
political violence between Zanu PF and the MDC-T. There were 22 incidents of
victimisation, intimidation and harassment, mainly by Zanu PF and mainly against
unsuspecting villagers and opposition or perceived opposition members or
supporters. Seven cases of discrimination involving the politicisation and partisan
distribution of food aid by Zanu PF local officials were also recorded, as well as
four cases of coercion mainly involving Zanu PF and relating to forced meetings
and forced donations, and two incidents of incitement to violence and hate
speech. The other cases recorded were of a non-political nature and related to
general violence, including the severe beating of civilians by members of
Zimbabwe National Army in Kariba; corrupt and criminal practices by public
officials; and violations of the right to education and other children’s rights. Ten
cases of school children who were sent back home for school fees were
recorded, as was one case of statutory rape and another of school children
draped in Zanu PF regalia – ostensibly forced to attend a political gathering or to
take part in political activities.
Effectively, intraparty violence and incidents of political victimisation,
intimidation and harassment defined the month of May, accounting for almost 57
percent of the violations recorded. The incidents were for the most part localised
and targeted at political opponents and their supporters in the primaries. Some of
2