TABLE 19 Frequency of reported violations Source: CSVR.2006 VIOLATION FREQUENCY Severe psychological torture 78% Threats 76% Witnessing violation 70% Harassment 67% Beatings 63% Sensory over-stimulation 41% Unlawful arrest/detention 17% Victim of Murambatsvina 15% Rape 15% Burnings 8% Indecent assault 8% Falanga 4% Electrical shock 2% The most frequent perpetrators reported were ZANU PF supporters, which was different to the WOZA women, where perpetrators were most commonly members of the ZRP. The last report has a similar importance to the JAG report was carried out by the South African Centre for Survivors of Torture, formerly the Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors Project67. This was a survey of the four major refugee reception centres in South Africa, and a total of 285 Zimbabwean refugees were interviewed. This was also useful as it used similar methodology to the ActionAid and WOZA studies, making use of the HTQ and the SRQ-8 as well as questions about the violations experienced and the refugee experience. Over 90% had come to South Africa since 2006, and high numbers sample reported experiences of violence or torture [46%], political intimidation [62%], and the denial of food assistance [38%]. 56% reported coming to South Africa for primarily political reasons, with only 28% cited primarily economic reasons, and this was a similar finding to another 2006 study of refugees and migrants68. The study found that both the number of persons affected by trauma and the number of trauma events have increased significantly. In the case of the number of trauma events experienced or witnessed, there has been a three-fold increase since 2000, whilst the number of persons affected by at least one trauma event had doubled. The data from this refugee sample showed the same increasing trend of reported trauma, both “experienced” and “witnessed” as was seen in the ActionAid and WOZA samples. This convergence of findings from different samples strongly supports the general view that gross human rights violations have been both common and worsening since 2000. Thus, all these reports together make a very strong case that gross human rights violations, and torture, have been common in Zimbabwe since 2000. They lay the ground for understanding the context of 2008, and the understanding that the events of 2008 are not an aberration, but the continuation of an approach by the Zimbabwean state to dealing with political challenge, and especially the challenge that accompanies elections, the ultimate challenge to political power. The events of 2008 are thus not unique but rather a more severe example of the events that have preceded it since 2008. The rates of reported torture vary considerably according to the sample examined. For example, the Human Rights Forum reports a frequency of 12% in the victims seen by the Forum and its members, whilst the JAG report indicates a frequency of between 1% for farmers and 2% for their employees, but a frequency of only 2% of the commercial farm workers represents nearly 61,000 individuals as opposed to 4,800 violations – not individuals – in the Forum’s data. So it is important to distinguish between frequencies and numbers in talking about torture in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, it seems that the rates of reported torture increase markedly in frequency when the population can be described as activist, whether the activists are supporters of the MDC, WOZA, or farm workers employed by commercial farmers who were MDC supporters. It is also evident that, as was seen in the analysis of the Human Rights Forum data, all violations, and especially torture, increase significantly during elections. Thus, all the reports prior to 2008 can be taken to be prima facie evidence that torture has been a systematic tactic to both influence elections and suppress civil ( and peaceful) dissent. It has also clearly been widespread, both in the sense of occurring rights around Zimbabwe and also in the sense that a wide range of government agencies and supporters have been involved in its perpetration. It is against this background that the events of 2008 can be examined, but, before doing so, it is worth taking a brief look at the allegations of who has been responsible overall for the violations. 67 68 See SACST (2008), Victims of Organized Violence and Torture in Zimbabweans attending Refugee Reception Offices in South Africa: Prevalence & Associated Features. March 2008. JOHANNESBURG: THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CENTRE FOR SURVIVORS OF TORTURE. See See Makina, D (2007), Profile of Migrant Zimbabweans in South Africa: A Pilot Study. Research Report. Page 23