2. Selective reporting on the violations in Zimbabwe As the Human Rights Forum pointed out in its July report, it is obfuscation for all groups involved in the Zimbabwe crisis to continue to characterise the gross human rights violations taking place as merely political violence, and this error is continued in the agreement signed on 15 th September 2008. It is exactly because this error persists that the Zimbabwe Republic Police [ZRP] can issue misleading reports that claim serious violence has been committed by the MDC. As indicated above, the ZRP issued two reports; one claiming treasonous activities by the MDC and a range of civil society organizations, and another describing the alleged violence by the MDC. The first report, alleging treason, is easily dismissed for the simple reason that most of the claims about treason would not fit any known crimes of treason, rather detailing the kinds of civic and political actions accepted in all functioning democracies.10 The second report provided case studies of three incidents of political violence only, but characterises these as a mass violent onslaught against ZANU PF supporters: the claim and the supporting evidence are so manifestly contradictory that this report too requires little comment.11 These reports, and the recent absurd claims that the MDC-T is training militia, seek to create the impression that there has been significant involvement of the MDC in the violence since the March 2008 election, and build upon two earlier reports issued by the ZRP in which the ZRP alleged that the MDC and a number of civic organizations are involved in “regime change”.12 These earlier reports were comprehensively refuted by a report of the Human Rights Forum.13 These most recent reports, however, went way beyond the attempt to create even a quasi-neutral depiction of the violence in the earlier reports, and were bluntly partisan and politically in support of ZANU PF. The quote below quite clearly illustrates the partisan views of the ZRP: During the recent Harmonized Elections, the two ZANU (PF) Makoni North House of Assembly candidates contested and split the party’s votes giving the MDC (T) candidate Elton MANGOMA an undeserved advantage. Elton MANGOMA garnered 5 055 votes against Vongai NEMAIRE’s 3 657 and Rosy Chipo Shiel MAHERE’s 3 482 votes. The combined votes for the two ZANU (PF) candidates is 7139 meaning this could have resulted in a ZANU (PF) victory. One wonders why such 10 11 12 13 See ZRP (2008),Opposition Forces in Zimbabwe. The MDC(T) Profile of Treachery. Police General Headquarters, 16 April 2008. See ZRP (2008), Opposition Forces in Zimbabwe. An Orgy of Destruction: The MDC(T) Campaign of Destruction. Village 1 & 2 Mayo Resettlement Area. Police General Headquarters, 25 April 2008. It is significant that references to violence in the 15 September Agreement do not attribute any causality, make further reference to “regime change”, and make generalised statements requiring all political parties, and even civics, to refrain from violence or advocating violence. Here it is worth noting that there is no evidence from the past 9 years that civil society organizations have been violent or advocated violence. See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2007), At Best a Falsehood, At Worst a Lie? Shooting Oneself in the Foot? Comments on the Zimbabwe Republic Police Report “Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe. A Trail of Violence. June 2007. HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM.