March 2008
Volume 20, No. 2(A)
All Over Again
Human Rights Abuses and Flawed Electoral Conditions in Zimbabwe’s
Coming General Elections
Glossary of Acronyms .............................................................................................. 1
I. Summary..............................................................................................................2
II. Methodology........................................................................................................5
III. Recommendations ............................................................................................. 6
To the Government of Zimbabwe ........................................................................ 6
To Opposition Parties..........................................................................................7
To the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ..............................................................7
To the Southern African Development Community ...............................................7
To Local and International Observers ................................................................. 8
IV. Background.........................................................................................................9
State-Sponsored Violence and Intimidation against Opposition Members and
Human Rights Defenders in 2007 ...................................................................... 10
Failure of SADC Mediation Talks ........................................................................ 11
V. Electoral Institutions and the Legal Environment................................................ 13
VI. Political Violence and Intimidation in 2007 and 2008........................................ 16
Beating of Members of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe by ZANU-PF
Supporters in February 2008............................................................................. 17
Intimidation and Violence by ZANU-PF Supporters against Teachers in 2007 and
2008................................................................................................................. 21
Police Involvement in Incidents of Intimidation and Violence against the
Opposition, Students, and NGOs in 2008..........................................................22