Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

On 20 November 2019, supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-A) gathered at the party headquarters in Harare for the Hope of the Nation Address which was scheduled to be addressed by the party President Nelson Chamisa. The hostile response by the police who indiscriminately beat the crowd with baton sticks, with booted feet and fired tear gas in the busy Central Business District resulted in many citizens involved in their daily business being injured or bundled into police vehicles.

ZESN strongly believes that the pathway to the next election should be defined by a comprehensive electoral and political reforms process established and implemented by all key stakeholders.

The data collected reported six hundred and eighty eight human rights violations, which have been incorporated into the Shutdown Atrocities Report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (of which ZPP is member).

In this Constitution Watch we shall look at the degree of force that may be used to maintain law and order, and at the circumstances in which military personnel may be called upon to assist the police for that purpose.

This briefing paper reviews the political and historical context of the Zimbabwean election with a view of determining the contribution of this past to the electoral outcomes. We hypothesize that the 2018 electoral outcome will be a function of its immediate past and the broader national historical context.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) organized the Zimbabwe International Election Observation Mission (ZIEOM) for the 2018 Zimbabwe presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections (referred to locally as “harmonized” elections).

The Petitioners beseech the Parliament of Zimbabwe to consider and pass the relevant legislation that give life to tenets of the 2013 Constitution.

On the 14th September the President published a proclamation (No 6 of 2018) establishing the Commission [The proclamation can be viewed on the Veritas website – link] and the seven Commissioners were sworn in on the 19th September.

E.D Mnangagwa Urges the court to dismiss Chamisa's application as there was no valid challenge to his election.

This Application challenged the results of the presidential election announced irregularly by the 23rd and 24th respondents on the 3rd day of August 2018. It also challenged the declaration by the 23rd respondent that 1st respondent ids the duly elected presidential candidate for the presidential for the presidential election that took place on the 30th day of July 2018.

The Commission issued its preliminary election monitoring report on the 2nd of August 2018 covering the period up to 31 July 2018. This statement is therefore a summary of findings on the election related human rights situation by the ZHRC in the period from 1 August to 6 August 2018.

Malaba CJ's decision stated that,This is the unanimous judgment of the Court. It must be noted that it, however, does not contain the full reasons thereof. These will be issued in due course.

SADC electoral Observation Mission to the Republic of Zimbabwe Preliminary statement by his Excellency Manuel Domingos Augusto.

Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections were the first to be observed by the Commonwealth in 16 years. The Commonwealth last observed Zimbabwe’s 2002 Presidential Election. As such, this observation mission provided a unique opportunity to accompany Zimbabwe on a critical leg of its democratic journey.

STATEMENT BY THE HONOURABLE TETE ANTONIO, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA AND HEAD OF THE SADC ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION (SEOM) TO THE 2018 HARMONISED ELECTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE.

On 28 May 2018, another Electoral Amendment Act was passed and the 2018 Election date was announced thereafter. Consequently, as a result of the announcement of the Election day as 30 July 2018, any amendments to the Electoral Act that happen after the proclamation do not apply to the 2018 elections, but other future elections.

This report is based on observations made by the LTOs between 18 May and 07 July 2018 in their respective constituencies from across the country’s 10 provinces. However ZESN produced several thematic reports during the same reporting period, including a report inspection of the voters’ roll, the nomination court, and primary elections for political parties.

This report focuses on how Zimbabwe has an unenviable reputation for being the most politically violent country in Southern Africa, certainly since the civil wars ended in Angola and Mozambique, and the independence of Namibia and South Africa.

The political context of Zimbabwe and a report on Biometric Voter Registration (BVR):A National and Matabeleland Perspective.The report highlights factionalism in ZANU PF which led to then Vice President E.D Mnangagwa being fired and the stepping down of R.G Mugabe.

This paper contains a framework to guide lobby and advocacy efforts with parliamentarians, policy makers and other critical stakeholders such as ZEC.

Predisposing the Scourge of Political Violence.Political violence in Zimbabwe has always been a cause for concern. It curses our society. Very little effort or headway has been made to address this historical problem.

Violence and other forms of violations are expected to be less in Chimanimani West comparatively to the 2008 and 2013 cases. However, it is worrying that unorthodox covert means can be used by the ruling party in a bid to win the elections while in the process violating the people’s right to vote peacefully.

New Amendments to the electoral Act falls short of expectations.

The aim of this report is to provide succinct coverage of the election that brought the GPA to a close and also provide some pointers to the future of Zimbabwean politics.

The Bulletin Stated that contesting for Elections is expensive in Zimbabwe making it essential that Political parties have funding for them to take part in the polls.

This report assesses the legislative and electoral reforms undertaken by the unity government and analyzes the quality of those reforms and their capacity to create an environment conducive to credible, free and fair elections. Human Rights Watch has found that the contending parties have focused on only one aspect of reforms—securing agreement on the necessary legal and administrative requirements for free and fair elections.

The mission observed that the degree of human rights violations in the country follows a recurring pattern that usually culminates during electoral periods. The country was facing a political deadlock where the leading parties, especially ZANU-PF, were unlikely to reach any agreement likely to improve the political environment, since the MDC considered the implementation of the reforms foreseen by the GPA as a pre-condition for the organisation of elections, while ZANU-PF called for elections as a means to put an end to the prevailing deadlock.

This is a review by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (“ZESN”) of the proposed amendments to Zimbabwe’s legislation on the management and conduct of elections in the country. The Electoral Amendment Bill, 2011 (hereafter, “the Bill”) seeks to amend the Electoral Act (Chapter 2: 13) (hereafter, “the Act”).

In this report for 2008,there are certain trends and characteristics which have been attendant on the incidents reported to the Human rights Forum which rebut the denial of ZANU PF that in most instances the violence that was reported was between over zealous youths and villagers.

This report, based on investigations in Zimbabwe, describes the scale of the abuses and identifies those responsible—officials from ZANU-PF, often working through proxy forces of so-called war veterans and youth militia, backed by members of the armed forces and police. Local institutions have identified at least 2,000 beatings and cases of torture.