1. The breakdown of law and order: torture with impunity Zimbabweans ordinarily live in fear, it is what I would call a normal state of life in Zimbabwe today…it progresses into being captured. Once you are captured, it transforms itself into terror… [Gabriel Shumba, Human Rights Lawyer]9 The crisis in Zimbabwe has not produced rivers of blood and mountains of dead. In global terms, events there cannot compete with the horrors of Iraq, Palestine or Dafur in Sudan. Yet, the precipitous decline of Zimbabwe on political, legal, social and economic fronts in the last five years has created a problem that has spilled across neighbouring southern African nations, as an estimated 25% of its population has fled the political and humanitarian crisis at home.10 Zimbabwe’s democratic space has closed in the face of an upsurge in state organised political violence, the implementation of repressive laws and the collapse of the judiciary.11 Whenever there is a threat that people may exercise their democratic rights, there is a flare up of state orchestrated violence. The crisis of governance has impacted socially, as Zimbabwe’s economy has become the fastest contracting economy in the world. The crisis in Zimbabwe has been referred to as a crisis of governance, which has arisen out of a profound intolerance for political diversity.12 It is no coincidence that land invasions began within weeks of ZANU PF’s first ever defeat at the polls in February 2000, in a referendum in which the government’s revised constitution, which would have entrenched the powers of the President, was rejected by Zimbabweans. The referendum defeat was the result of campaigning by the first national opposition political party of any standing in the last 24 years, the MDC, together with civil society forces. It is the MDC and those perceived to support the MDC, including civil society movements such as trade unions, which have borne the brunt of human rights violations and state oppression since 2000 till the present. Zimbabweans live in a state of oppression in which they have been forced to flee their homes for fear of persecution, in a country where the police and army can detain, torture and even murder perceived government opponents with total impunity.13 While the death toll due to political violence remains small, at around 300, there have been thousands of other human casualties of the situation. Human rights organisations in Zimbabwe have estimated that around 300,000 people have been victims of human rights violations of 9 Shumba is now in exile in South Africa after being horrifically tortured by the Zimbabwean police. His full affidavit is in Appendix One, and parts of his testimony are included in the video accompaniment of this report. 10 See further ahead in this report for estimates and implications of this enormous relocation of Zimbabweans. 11 See Appendix Four to this report for a general listing of the many reports both national and international, documenting aspects of this decline. Comprehensive information on the causes of the current crisis of governance in Zimbabwe and its status are well covered in other reports. The current report does not seek to duplicate in detail this information available elsewhere. UN agencies including their Relief and Recovery Unit release regular situational update reports. The NGO Food Security Network, FOSENET, an alliance of 24 Zimbabwean NGOs, releases monthly updates summarising their collective information on the national food situation, entitled Community assessment of the food situation in Zimbabwe. The International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, New York, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (ZHRNGOForum) are among the organizations who have websites with systematic and detailed commentary on events in Zimbabwe. Laws passed severely undermining freedoms of movement, association and expression include the Public Order and Security Act, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the looming NGO Act, various electoral reforms and presidential powers amendments. 12 The Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition, a grouping of 200 civil society organisations, holds this position and has produced written analysis of the situation justifying this position. See WEB SITE HERE. 13 There are numerous accounts documenting both such torture and its impunity. For example, see Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (ZHRNGOForum), Who was responsible, 2000, and Are they accountable? 2002. 19