Specific Cases
Ÿ
MDC Alliance youth members attacked then MDC-T vice president Thokozani Khupe with
stones and attempted to burn a hut she entered while in a village outside Buhera for the
funeral of the late MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai on 20 February.
Ÿ
In May 2018 at the Supreme Court in Harare riot police had to protect former deputy prime
minister Thokozani Khupe after activists from Nelson Chamisa-led MDC-T party harassed her
for being a “sell-out” and chanted “hure! hure! hure!” which is Shona for prostitute. Thokozani
Khupe had been at the court attending a case in which she was battling Nelson Chamisa over
the use of the party’s name and symbols.
Ÿ
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Lucia Matibenga, who was one of the few females
in the country leading a political party, said when she suggested her name to lead the PDP,
some people in the party suggested that she had no capacity to lead because she was a
woman.
Ÿ
ZEC Chairwoman Justice Priscilla Chigumba faced frequent harassment on social media
during the elections campaign period and in the aftermath of elections. On 12 September,
MDC Alliance MPs verbally heckled Justice Priscilla Chigumba for allegedly enabling President
Mnangagwa’s election victory, prompting security personnel to escort her from the Parliament
building for her safety.
Ÿ
In Buhera an MDC polling agent claimed a group of men came to her house in the middle of
the night and assaulted and raped her for refusing to sign the vote tabulation form she claimed
contained irregularities. This evidence was put on affidavit for the Presidential election
petition before the Constitutional Court, although this bundle of evidence was expunged from
the record.
Ÿ
In Mutoko a woman claimed three men came to her home demanding to know the candidate
she voted for during the elections. She claimed the men assaulted and raped her when she
gave an unfavourable answer. Police arrested one of the men responsible and the court case
was pending at year’s end.
Ÿ
Students at the Catholic University of Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo campus staged a protest accusing
the college administration of failing to rein in lecturers fingered in demanding sexual favours
from female students in return for marks.
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STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018
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