The ZHRC also received complaints of members of the military allegedly indiscriminately
harassing and beating up civilians in some suburbs in Harare. The Commission
dispatched monitoring and investigative teams to assess the situation in Kuwadzana and
Warren Park in Harare as well as in Chitungwiza following these reports and confirmed
that indeed members of the public were being assaulted by people in military uniforms
who were moving around the suburbs in military trucks. Of concern to the Commission is
the fact that that there seems to be no office taking responsibility over the deployment of
soldiers into communities and streets. On the contrary, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces
and the Government have incredibly denied this deployment. This poses an even bigger
danger to communities as it appears that the ‘soldiers’ beating up civilians are not
accountable to anyone. The Commission would have expected prompt investigation and
prosecution by the relevant authorities if it is true that the assailants are impostors and/or
rogue elements acting without official deployment.
The ZHRC however welcomes the consistent calls by the incumbent President for peace
and harmony in the country, and the promise to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the
death of civilians on the 1st of August 2018. ZHRC awaits the setting up of the Commission
of Inquiry and the conclusion of investigations. The families that lost their loved ones
should be adequately compensated and/ or assisted in other ways by the State as
promised.
After the announcement of the results, the ZHRC received and continues to receive
complaints of intimidation/ harassment and threats to citizens perceived to have voted for
the opposition, those who acted as polling agents for opposition1 candidates or stood as
parliamentary or council candidates in both urban and rural communities. From the
investigations undertaken to date, the ZHRC has established that there is hunting down
and harassment of polling agents for independent candidates and opposition political
parties, resulting in bodily and emotional harm as well as damage to property. Some of
the victims, including women, have fled their homes for fear of political persecution. The
Commission has received and confirmed a report on the burning of the homestead of an
MDC Alliance polling agent David Chimanga in Mutoko East Constituency, and has since
dispatched an investigative team to find out more details and assist the family to get
appropriate support and redress.
The ZHRC is also concerned by the use of different social media platforms to convey hate
speech and messages that have the potential of causing unrest in the country.
Given the above facts and the current unstable situation prevailing in the country, the
ZHRC makes the following recommendations:
To the Zimbabwe National Army
The Commission reiterates that all army deployments must be done in terms of the laws
and Constitution of Zimbabwe and all members of the Zimbabwe National Army must be
accounted for and warned not to attack civilians in order to stop further harm to members
of the public.
1
Those who are not members of the ruling party.