there are likely to be very large numbers of survivors requiring medical and psychological assistance,
and particularly psychological assistance1.
What is also evident from the data collected by the Human Rights Forum (and amply supported by
other reports and studies) is that all violations since 2000 increase dramatically during election
periods. For example, if the data from the Human Rights Forum monthly reports is separated
according to whether the month in question occurred during the three months of an election, then
there is a very strong statistically significant difference between election and non-election months
[see Table 2 below].
Table 2: Differences in the average monthly frequency of violations,
July 2001 to June 2009.
Source: Monthly Political Violence Reports of the Human rights Forum
Abduction
Arrest & detention
Assault
Attempted murder
Death threat
Disappearance
Displacement
Freedoms
Murder
Political discrimination
Property related
Rape
Torture
School closure
No election
[n=71]
5.1
214.4
61.7
0.5
1.9
0.6
23.9
219.4
1.8
92.2
25.1
0.3
47.6
0.2
*p=0.01; **p=0.001
Election
month
[n=25]
36.3**
177.5
192.9**
1.4*
10.5**
2.4
65.2
220.2
12.5**
248.0**
86.2**
1.4*
219.5**
5.2**
Now, as pointed out above, torture and Potentially Traumatic Events [PTE‘s] have different, but not
trivial, long-term psychological consequences, and it is to these consequences, as they have been
studied in Zimbabwe, that we next turn.
The Prevalence of trauma disorders in Zimbabwe
Whilst there are very few good epidemiological studies of the incidence or prevalence of disorders
due to trauma in Zimbabwe, there are a number of studies that are helpful in understanding the likely
picture. These studies suggest that there are a number of periods in which trauma has occurred as a
1
The very low rate of rape deserves some comment. Since rape victims are notoriously reluctant to report, and
victims of political rape even more so, the figure from the Forum is clearly a gross underestimate. For a more
nuanced understanding of political rape, see RAU (2010), No Hiding Place. Politically Motivated Rape of Women in
Zimbabwe. Report prepared by the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors
for Human Rights (ZADHR). December 2010. HARARE: RESEARCH & ADVOCACY UNIT; RAU (2011), Politically
Motivated Rape in Zimbabwe. Report produced for the Women‘s Programme of the Research and Advocacy Unit.
May 2011. HARARE:RESEARCH & ADVOCACY UNIT.