Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

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The report covers the areas identified by many political observers as being significantly related to the climate of discontent and discouragement felt by the Zimbabwean public at the time of the Food Riots. It also identifies the factors that observers felt were indicative of a crisis of governance in Zimbabwe. It talks about how Government-administered prices to meet Government's excessive spending requirements which triggered a resurgence in inflation, with analysts saying that inflation would round-off 1997 at above 20%.

The report outlines how the Government of Zimbabwe embarked on an operation to“clean-up” its cities. It was a“crash”operation known as “Operation Murambatsvina”, referred to in this report as Operation Restore Order. It started in the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, and rapidly evolved into anationwide demolition and eviction campaign carried out bythe police and the army.

This is a preliminary report on transitional justice highlighting some of the key findings of the Forum's “Taking Transitional Justice to the People” Programme.

This report, “Who Will Dare Begin the Process of Recovering the Truth” (Volume Two of the Taking Transitional Justice to the People Outreach Report) sets out the experiences of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, its members and associates, who conducted outreach meetings in fifty-one constituencies in its community-based programme to take the concept of transitional justice to the community. Reports of the initial fourteen meetings were included in Volume One, published in June 2009.

This report is a follow-up to the Taking Transitional Justice to the People outreach project, which commenced in 2009, during which the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) went to local communities across the country to introduce the discussion on transitional justice. In this survey, the Forum conducted research between February and March 2011 to capture the recommendations and perceptions of individual Zimbabweans on transitional justice.

Statement to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at the 63rdOrdinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights under Agenda Item 4e 24 October-13 November 2018 :Statement on the Overall Human Rights Situation in Zimbabwe

From 21 to 23 November 2018, over 118 delegates converged in Bulawayo for the 2018 Transitional Justice Policy Symposium which was jointly convened by the National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). The theme of the symposium was, ‘Never Again: Setting the Transitional Justice Agenda for Zimbabwe.’

This briefing was presented to the Special Advisor to the President on National Peace and Reconciliation. The briefing draws from the monitoring work done by NTJWG and the views obtained by NTJWG from Stakeholders who are concerned with the national peace and reconciliation process in Zimbabwe.

The work of the NTJWG in the period 2016 to 2017 has seen stakeholders pushing back on the government, rejecting the initial NPRC Bill and mobilising communities to voice their concerns. In early 2017, NTJWG invited stakeholders to a planning workshop in Harare. 37 organisations responded to that call and a comprehensive strategy was produced.

This report captures the key developments in Zimbabwe's key transitional justice processes to date. It highlights those developments relevant to the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-recurrence.

This report outlines the opinions and expectations of Victims and Survivors on what should be included in a Transitional Justice Framework for Zimbabwe commissioned by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.

The objective of the research is the development of a discussion paper for a transitional justice framework for Zimbabwe. This research will cover aspects regarding the understanding of key transitional justice questions in Zimbabwe.

The conference commenced with welcome remarks from Reverend Dr Ray Motsi (the NTJWG Thematic Leader on Memorialisation). There where also remarks from Paul Themba Nyathi, the NTJWG Deputy Chairperson standing in for the working group’s Chairperson, Aleck Muchadehama as well as a speech from Nomfundo Mogapi the Executice Director of CSVR and last but not least, remarks by the Chairperson of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Retired Justice Selo Nare.

Day 2 of the NTJWG Conference being in Bulawayo began with participants visiting different historical sites and heritage centres which depict Zimbabwe’s conflict history and community healing practices. Visited places include; the Entumbane Reintegration Camps sites, the Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church and Amagugu International Heritage Centre.

Reverend Useni Sibanda opened the conference’s third day by assisting participants to reflect on first two days Symposium’s outputs drawing from various presentations and evidence by victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi atrocities.

This paper seeks to examine the question of amnesty and whether it is pragmatic to effect it as a healing and reconciliation mechanism within the context of Zimbabwe.

Closing address by Alec Muchadehama a Key note Speaker. He Emphasized in the importance of Peace and Reconciliation and ways of making sure that it is the Government's way of Doing things.

A dark cloud engulfed the country in the early evening hours of the ‘day of love’ February 14 as news of the passing on of the champion and icon of democracy Morgan Richard Tsvangirai filtered. Tsvangirai leaves an indelible footprint in the fight for democracy. In death Tsvangirai who succumbed to colon cancer was saluted even by those who caused him and his supporters untold suffering over the years since the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change in 1999.

With the polls fast approaching, an increase of less than 10% was recorded in violations recorded from the 176 cases recorded in February to 188. Most Violations were related to the demand for voter registration slips.

Two major events helped to shape the political climate and human rights situation in the country in April. These were the Independence Day celebrations and the ZanuPF primary elections at the end of the month. The Independence Day celebrations resulted in a marked rise in incidents of coercion as ZanuPF officials in different parts of the country forced members of the public to make donations for the celebrations. The ruling party’s primary elections on the other hand accounted for a noticeable rise in cases of intraparty squabbling and occasional violence as aspiring candidates competed for nomination.

There was a notable 20 percent decrease in recorded cases of human rights violations from the previous month, which should be a positive development as we go to the general election in two months’ time.

A comparative analysis revealed that human rights violations increased from 181 in the month of May to 204 in the minth of June.

The July Monthly Monitoring report contextualizes the Eve of the run up to the Harmonised 2018 elections. It was characterized by disregard of the Political parties' code of conduct.

Picking up the pieces in the aftermath of the elections

ZPP recorded a total of 124 cases containing 226 human rights violations showing a downward trajectory from the 266 violations recorded in August. In comparison to the previous month, there has been a spike in the cases of discrimination with the highest being reported from Midlands, followed by Masvingo, Manicaland and Mashonaland East.

The Month of October recorded a total of 235 violations. There was a rise in the violations connected to assault and most perpetrators where male affiliated to the ruling ZANU PF party.

The report highlights how the Zimbawe Republic Police made up 25% of the perpetrators of Human Rights Violations which was one of the highest figures in 2018.

Human Rights violations continued on a downward trend in the month of December with 136 violations recorded, down from the 164 recorded in November. Zanu PF was responsible for most of the violations followed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police officers and Municipal police officers.

The month of January recorded many violations which were politically motivated. Most of the reported cases were harassment and intimidation of opposition political activists. Other prominent cases were those of deprivation of state sponsored food aid and inputs for farming.