October 2002, while Ray Choto later went into exile. In February 2005 a Zimbabwe internet news service based in South Africa reported that the Zimbabwe Government had paid Choto and the late Chavunduka’s estate a combined total of Z$24 million (about US$3000) civil damages for the torture and unlawful detention. [Sources: Wilson v Minister of Defence and Others 1999 (1) ZLR 144 (H); Chavunduka and Another v Commissioner of Police and Another 2000 (1) ZLR 418 (S); Chavunduka and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Another 2000 (1) ZLR 552 (S); Legal Forum (Harare), Volume 11, Number 1, March 1999; Zimbabwe Online (SA) 21 February 2005] This incident marked a significant stage in the collapse of the rule of law, a full year before the unlawful land invasions began in February 2000. It intimated that even an independent Supreme Court was virtually powerless to protect individuals against torture, as it was soon to prove powerless to protect freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, property rights and all other basic human rights. It is evident from Figure A below that torture per se has been reported less frequently in 2004 than in other years. Figure A Human rights violations per year: July 2001 to November 2004. 1400 1200 Numbers. 1000 2004 800 2003 2002 2001 600 400 200 g na pp in ul t sa r as m ur de ab du ct io n/ k id m pt ed at te de a th ra n th re a ts ce t fre ed om of e xp po re s lit ic al si on di sa pp ea ce m en /m vt /a ss rim sc di di sp la io n r ./i n oc ia t m ur de t. tim ./v ic la te d e rty re ra p op e ur e cl os ho ol to rtu re sc pr ar re s t& de te n tio n 0 Category of violation. Nevertheless, torture remains the single largest category of gross human rights violations since 2001, comprising 24% of all types of violation reported: 2,742 allegations of torture were made over this forty month period (figures for December 2004 have not been included.) This is illustrated in Table A below. It is also significant that the total number of human rights violations (including all abuses, as shown in the table) reported to the Human Rights Forum since July 2001 now stands at 11,456. This is not a trivial number, and, in respect of the point made at the beginning of this paper, indicates just why there is enormous concern about Zimbabwe, the crisis, and Zimbabwe’s human rights record. It must also be pointed out that this figure of 11,456 should be seen as only an indication 7