Commissions Watch 3/2017
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Report:
Report on Food Aid Cases
5 May
oral evidence before the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Human Rights
on the Food Deficit Programme, the Human Rights Commission concluded in
its report that “there was indeed discrimination and exclusion in the distribution
of food aid in Bikita East Constituency, Mazowe Central Constituency,
Muzarabani North and South and Buhera North.” The report also noted that
“the ruling ZANU-PF members were the major perpetrators in violations linked
to distribution of food, agriculture inputs and other forms of aid.”
The ZHRC Press Statement and Report on Food Aid Cases
On 7th September, ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi released a statement
on the food aid cases. The statement, which is available on the Veritas website
[available here], summarises the Commission’s report on the food aid
cases. The complaints submitted to the Human Rights Commission claimed
violation of the right to food and the right to equality and non-discrimination,
particularly on grounds of political affiliation. Both the right to food and the right
to equality and non-discrimination are protected in the Constitution, sections
77(b) and 56(3) respectively from a constitutional perspective, the Commission
not only found that the right to food and the right to equality and nondiscrimination had been violated, but also that the rights of elderly persons to
receive reasonable care and assistance from their families and the State, in
terms of section 82(a) and (c) of the Constitution had been violated. The
Commission’s report also went beyond our Constitution and cited international
law provisions that Zimbabwe, as a State party thereto, had violated: Article 7
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [available here], Article 26 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [available here], and Article
2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
[available here], all of which enshrine the right to equality before the law and
freedom from discrimination. The Commission’s report also mentions the UN
Guiding Principles on the Right to Food, which in addition to non-discrimination,
refer to pertinent issues of availability, accessibility and sustainability in
guaranteeing the right to food.
Highlights of the Report
In a nutshell, the Commission’s report exposes the use of food aid, in certain
areas of the country, to suppress political dissent by making access to
essential government programs conditional on support for the ruling party.
“Villagers in the Mazowe Central Constituency, Dewure Resettlement Scheme
of Bikita East, Muzarabani and Buhera North were facing discrimination in the
distribution of food aid and agriculture inputs on the basis of their political
affiliation to the opposition party, the MDC” reads the Commission’s report.
Interviews conducted by the Commission also revealed that “beneficiaries are
expected to chant ruling party slogans and to produce party affiliation cards
before receiving food aid.”
The report records, in April 2016, the MDC-T Ward 7 Councillor in Buhera
North Constituency was allegedly assaulted by ZANU-PF members after