2
Background
Any consideration of current human rights observance in Zimbabwe must be undertaken against the
background of the history of the past 40 years. A cursory examination of the history of this period will
show extensive violations of human rights followed by formal impunity, and, furthermore, will show
periods where extensive violations of human rights is indeed governed by impunity 1. Statutes of impunity,
such as the Indemnity and Compensation Act passed by the illegal regime of Ian Smith in 1975, were
supplemented by a supporting array of draconian legislation, such as the Law and Order (Maintenance)
Act, Emergency Powers and the like. The use of Emergency Powers and the Law and Order (Maintenance)
Act was continued by the Mugabe government, but extended considerably by the Presidential Powers Act,
and always finally the use of formal impunity and pardons to cover human rights violations. There remains
a consistent pattern in Zimbabwe: of periods in which gross human rights violations are permitted and even
encouraged, followed by the formal excusing of such violations by impunity. It is a pattern that has
persisted into the new millennium, and it is a pattern that guides all issues around political problem solving.
It begins in the militarisation of the state under Ian Smith, and continues into the current militarized
anarchy of Zimbabwe today.
Political violence once again cast a dark shadow over elections in Zimbabwe, but the scale of the violence
has eclipsed all previous elections. Men, women and children were subjected to torture or severe brutality
because of their political affiliations, real or perceived. The Human Rights Forum has over 1,000
statements from the victims of this violence 2. The Human Rights Forum has undertaken a detailed case
study of one of the most severely affected areas, and this study, in Mberengwa East 3, has created even
greater concern about the extent of the violence.
The victims have spoken out against the perpetrators of violence and in the process they have named not
only individual attackers, but the leading organisers. Their accounts provide compelling evidence that an
organised campaign of violence was being sponsored by the ruling party, Zanu (PF) and that high-ranking
party members were directly involved.
1
See REELER, A.P. (1999), Can you have a reparations policy without justice? Paper presented to: VIIIth International Symposium
on Torture: Torture as a Challenge to the Health, Legal and Other Professions, 22-25 September 1999, New Delhi, India; also
REELER, A.P. (1998), Epidemic violence and the community: A Zimbabwean case study, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
JOURNAL, 33, 128-139; and also REELER, A.P (1998), Compensation for Gross Human Rights Violations: Torture and the War
Victims Compensation Act, LEGAL FORUM, 10, 6-21.
2
See ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM (2000), Who is responsible? A preliminary analysis of pre-election violence in
Zimbabwe, , A Report compiled by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, 20 June 2000 ; ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO
FORUM (2000), Report on political violence in Bulawayo, Harare, Manicaland, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland
North, Matabeleland South and Midlands, A Report compiled by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, 7 August 2000;
ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM (2000), A Report on Post-Election Violence, A Report compiled by the Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum, 7 August 2000.
3
See ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM (2000),Report on Pre-Election Political Violence in Mberengwa, A Report
compiled by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, 17 November 2000.