4
situations, and how much is the consequence of the ―complex emergency‖ and the social
breakdown that has accompanied this complex emergency.
Rape and sexual violence are, however, only part of the picture. Women in Zimbabwe have been
victims of the most egregious forms of organized violence themselves, as well as having to carry
the burden of families in which their partners have been victims and their children witness to
violations. In organized violence and torture, it seems that there is no way that women can
escape the consequences.
Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors Project [ZTVP]
The Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors Project [ZTVP] has been in operation since February
2005. Based at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation [CSVR] in Johannesburg,
the project offers medical assistance and counselling for Zimbabwean survivors of torture who
are living in South Africa. The project also provides limited social assistance. Virtually all of the
clients seen by ZTVP are refugees on account of their previous persecution and ill-treatment.
The first report from ZTVP, a small ―snap‖ survey in Gauteng of 236 Zimbabwean refugees,
reported that 30% of the sample had been victims of political violence, and 44% reported have
been denied food as a consequence of their political affiliation. 11 A majority [85%] of the sample
came to South Africa after 2000, and nearly 40% of the sample was female. This study, whilst it
could not be taken as indicating the overall prevalence of torture survivors amongst the
Zimbabwean refugee population, clearly gave cause for concern.
This present report is based on an examination of the women who have attended the ZTVP since
its inception. Women torture survivors were 32% of all survivors seen by the Project. A previous
report from ZTVP provided details of all persons seen since the beginning of the project, but
made no specific gender analysis.12 In this previous report, it was observed that the women seen
were less likely to be married than the men, less likely to report having been political or civic
activists, and less likely to report having been arrested or detained. However, no attempt was
made to compare men and women, or to specifically analyse women as a group. This report thus
reports on women as a distinct group. There were 102 women in the sample, seen between
February 2005 and September 2006.
Findings
Over 84% of the sample had arrived since 2004. They were generally young, with an average
age of 29 years, and were mostly single. Most [63%] reported that they had had some form of
employment in Zimbabwe prior to leaving, and 37% reported that they had held jobs in the
formal sector.
Most [67%] reported being politically active in some way, with 43% reporting membership of the
Movement for Democratic Change [MDC]. Most were urban [70%], and most came from
Matabeleland, with nearly half this group coming from Bulawayo itself. The largest percentage
came in 2005 [34%], the year of Operation Murambatsvina and a general election, but there
11
12
See Idasa (2005), Between a Rock and a Hard Place. A window on the situation of Zimbabweans living in Gauteng. A
Report by the Zimbabwe Torture. Victims Project. September 2005. PRETORIA: IDASA.
See ZTVP(2006), Over our dead bodies! A story of survival. A report by the Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors
Project. February 2005 – April 2006. JOHANNESBURG: CENTRE FOR STSUDY OF VIOLENCE AND RECONCILIATION.