Commissions Watch 4/2017
Human Rights Commission Report:
on 2014 Tsholotsho Flooding
22 June
displacement of some of community members. The Human Rights
Commission, through its Commissioners visited the district from the 11th to
12th November 2014.
Objectives
The main objective of the mission was to assess the human rights situation
for all the affected communities, including determining the scope and extent
of the emergency in the displaced communities from Butabubili, Gariya,
Sandawana, Sasedza, and Kalave. In addition, the Commissioners set out
to assess the humanitarian needs and the social impact of the floods on the
affected population and the adequacy of Government’s arrangements in
realising human rights and freedoms for the internally displaced persons.
Methods for assessment
The Commissioners used four tools for assessment, that is, key informant
interviews, focus groups discussions, household questionnaires and
participant observations. The key informant interviews collected in-depth
information about the community from key stakeholders such as villagers,
traditional leaders and teachers. The focus group discussions mainly
captured the perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes of the respondents
towards human rights issues. Information was gathered from men, women,
children and key informants in a permissive and nurturing environment that
enabled them to have an open discussion and encouraged different
perspectives and views towards the human rights issues that affected
them. The platform also encouraged the participants to formulate opinions
and ideas that exist in Tsholotsho in terms of beliefs, experiences, values
and norms. The household questionnaires were formulated to have an indepth view of the past and present situation in the Tsholotsho community.
They were administered to twelve random households throughout the 25
km radius from the Butabubili Primary School. The team had intended to
administer the questionnaires on a gender-balanced basis, but however,
70% of the occupants were women and this was so because the men had
gone to work across the border in South Africa, to fend for their families.
This gave an opportunity for the views of the women concerning the human
rights issues that affected them to be heard since women were often
excluded in meetings.
Challenges
The Commissioners were faced with some challenges, the main one being
unreliability of the statistics of the people affected by the flood and property
lost since there were different accounts and views. Further, the people
were tired of being interviewed and wanted assistance since they had been
interviewed before and had been promised some assistance that had not
materialised.
Legal framework