Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2008 Human Rights Report: Zimbabwe
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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Morgan Tsvangirai drank from the poisoned chalice
Morgan Tsvangirai drank from the poisoned chalice, knowing that it was poisoned. He was sworn in as prime minister of Zimbabwe, in a government that is still controlled by his deadly enemy, President Robert Mugabe. He must know that his chances of success, even of political survival, are close to nil.
"We are not joining Mugabe," he said bravely.
"This is part of a transitional relationship, negotiated. Mr Mugabe
has executive authority. I have executive authority."
But Mugabe has exclusive control over the army and the police, which are regularly used to harass, imprison and torture Tsvangirai's colleagues and supporters. He also controls the courts, through the justice ministry.
What Tsvangirai got was the Finance ministry (although Mugabe's man still controls the central bank) and the various social affairs ministries.
In effect, he can go looking for foreign aid, try to fix the broken
economy, and bring suffering Zimbabweans what help he can, but Mugabe's people still run the key ministries that have real power over people's lives.
Few Zimbabweans foresaw this outcome when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) unexpectedly won a majority in parliament and Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the election last March.
It was an accident that only happened because Zanu, the overconfident ruling party, was less thorough than usual in intimidating the voters and rigging the count, but the apparent defeat of Mugabe's 30-year-old regime awakened hope in the hearts of despairing Zimbabweans.
The hope was premature. The regime declared that Tsvangirai's majority
was not big enough to avoid a second round of voting, and then launched a campaign of violence against MDC officials and supporters that killed over 200 people and injured thousands.]
Shortly before the second vote, Tsvangirai withdrew from the race to save MDC voters from a bloodbath on Election Day, and Mugabe was "re-elected" without opposition as the president of Zimbabwe.
That wasn't the end of it, because Mugabe's brutal, corrupt regime has not just ruined the Zimbabwean economy; it is dragging the whole southern African region down.
Unemployment in Zimbabwe is 94%, the currency is so worthless that even street traders will only accept foreign currency, cholera is raging across the country, and average life expectancy is now the lowest in the world.
About one-third of Zimbabwe's 12 million people have fled to South Africa in search of work (and dozens were murdered there last year by resentful South Africans who believed that they were taking South African jobs). In a region that is relatively prosperous and well-governed by African standards, Zimbabwe sticks out like a sore thumb and that is a problem for the neighbours.
Foreign investors are famously ignorant about the distant places they invest in, and easily panic if something bad seems to be happening in the vicinity.
The other members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the 14-country regional organisation, had to do something about the catastrophe of Zimbabwe because they were all at risk of being tarred with the same brush by those ignorant foreigners.
So Sadc intervened - sort of.
Their intention was to force some sort of deal that ended the mess in Zimbabwe, but they had no real plan - and they were in awe of Mugabe's history as one of main heroes in the liberation struggle a generation ago. South Africa's then-president Thabo Mbeki was particularly determined to ensure that the old man (Mugabe will be 85 this week) be treated with respect, even though he is a tyrant.
So Sadc, rather than supporting Tsvangirai's complaint that Mugabe had stolen the election, forced him last August to accept a "national unity" government in which he would inevitably be the junior partner.
Tsvangirai did not even get agreement on which ministries the MDC would receive, although it was obvious that Mugabe would never willingly surrender control of his main instruments of repression, the army and the
police.
The last six months have been filled with futile wrangling as
Tsvangirai tried to wrest those ministries away from Mugabe, while the country sank ever deeper into poverty, hunger and disease. Now he has joined the government anyway, although Mugabe's thugs were still arresting and torturing senior MDC members even last week.
Tsvangirai's vision for how this might succeed, insofar as he has one, seems to be that his presence in the government will unleash a flood of foreign aid that will rescue Zimbabweans from their desperate plight. Then his grateful fellow-citizens will vote for him in such overwhelming numbers in the election that Sadc has mandated for two years hence that even Mugabe's vote-counters cannot invalidate it.
It isn't going to happen. Western aid donors have been giving Zimbabwe nothing except food relief (two-thirds of the population depends on foreign food aid) because they assume that Mugabe's cronies will steal anything else - and they see no reason to change their minds.
As Tsvangirai was being sworn in, Britain took the highly unusual step of placing an ad in the Zimbabwe press spelling out that fact: "It is unlikely that any government involving Mugabe will inspire donor confidence and attract the support it so badly needs."
But if the aid doesn't flow, Tsvangirai will have nothing to show for his desperate gamble. Game, set and match to Mugabe. Pity about Zimbabwe.
"We are not joining Mugabe," he said bravely.
"This is part of a transitional relationship, negotiated. Mr Mugabe
has executive authority. I have executive authority."
But Mugabe has exclusive control over the army and the police, which are regularly used to harass, imprison and torture Tsvangirai's colleagues and supporters. He also controls the courts, through the justice ministry.
What Tsvangirai got was the Finance ministry (although Mugabe's man still controls the central bank) and the various social affairs ministries.
In effect, he can go looking for foreign aid, try to fix the broken
economy, and bring suffering Zimbabweans what help he can, but Mugabe's people still run the key ministries that have real power over people's lives.
Few Zimbabweans foresaw this outcome when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) unexpectedly won a majority in parliament and Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the election last March.
It was an accident that only happened because Zanu, the overconfident ruling party, was less thorough than usual in intimidating the voters and rigging the count, but the apparent defeat of Mugabe's 30-year-old regime awakened hope in the hearts of despairing Zimbabweans.
The hope was premature. The regime declared that Tsvangirai's majority
was not big enough to avoid a second round of voting, and then launched a campaign of violence against MDC officials and supporters that killed over 200 people and injured thousands.]
Shortly before the second vote, Tsvangirai withdrew from the race to save MDC voters from a bloodbath on Election Day, and Mugabe was "re-elected" without opposition as the president of Zimbabwe.
That wasn't the end of it, because Mugabe's brutal, corrupt regime has not just ruined the Zimbabwean economy; it is dragging the whole southern African region down.
Unemployment in Zimbabwe is 94%, the currency is so worthless that even street traders will only accept foreign currency, cholera is raging across the country, and average life expectancy is now the lowest in the world.
About one-third of Zimbabwe's 12 million people have fled to South Africa in search of work (and dozens were murdered there last year by resentful South Africans who believed that they were taking South African jobs). In a region that is relatively prosperous and well-governed by African standards, Zimbabwe sticks out like a sore thumb and that is a problem for the neighbours.
Foreign investors are famously ignorant about the distant places they invest in, and easily panic if something bad seems to be happening in the vicinity.
The other members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the 14-country regional organisation, had to do something about the catastrophe of Zimbabwe because they were all at risk of being tarred with the same brush by those ignorant foreigners.
So Sadc intervened - sort of.
Their intention was to force some sort of deal that ended the mess in Zimbabwe, but they had no real plan - and they were in awe of Mugabe's history as one of main heroes in the liberation struggle a generation ago. South Africa's then-president Thabo Mbeki was particularly determined to ensure that the old man (Mugabe will be 85 this week) be treated with respect, even though he is a tyrant.
So Sadc, rather than supporting Tsvangirai's complaint that Mugabe had stolen the election, forced him last August to accept a "national unity" government in which he would inevitably be the junior partner.
Tsvangirai did not even get agreement on which ministries the MDC would receive, although it was obvious that Mugabe would never willingly surrender control of his main instruments of repression, the army and the
police.
The last six months have been filled with futile wrangling as
Tsvangirai tried to wrest those ministries away from Mugabe, while the country sank ever deeper into poverty, hunger and disease. Now he has joined the government anyway, although Mugabe's thugs were still arresting and torturing senior MDC members even last week.
Tsvangirai's vision for how this might succeed, insofar as he has one, seems to be that his presence in the government will unleash a flood of foreign aid that will rescue Zimbabweans from their desperate plight. Then his grateful fellow-citizens will vote for him in such overwhelming numbers in the election that Sadc has mandated for two years hence that even Mugabe's vote-counters cannot invalidate it.
It isn't going to happen. Western aid donors have been giving Zimbabwe nothing except food relief (two-thirds of the population depends on foreign food aid) because they assume that Mugabe's cronies will steal anything else - and they see no reason to change their minds.
As Tsvangirai was being sworn in, Britain took the highly unusual step of placing an ad in the Zimbabwe press spelling out that fact: "It is unlikely that any government involving Mugabe will inspire donor confidence and attract the support it so badly needs."
But if the aid doesn't flow, Tsvangirai will have nothing to show for his desperate gamble. Game, set and match to Mugabe. Pity about Zimbabwe.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Mugabe in new crackdown on MDC
Roy Bennett, who was warned not to come back to Zimbabwe unless he wanted the CIO to torture him, was arrested Friday in Harare shortly before he was to be sworn in as part of a new government of national unity, his Movement for Democratic Change party said.
"Roy Bennett, MDC treasurer general and deputy minister of agriculture designate has just been arrested by state agents," the party said in a statement. Bennett, who had lived in exile for the last five years in South Africa, was arrested despite Prime Minister Tsvangirai's pledge that in the new Zimbabwe nobody would be persecuted.
"Roy was arrested about 15 minutes ago at Charles Prince airport, on the outskirts of Harare," Ian Makone, chief secretary in the office of Prime Minister and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said. Bennett, sources in the intelligence services tell the Harare Tribune, was arrested by CIO agents working with plain clothes police officers.
The MDC said that he was arrested by police from the force's notorious Law and Order section, which deals with political crimes.
"We understand that they are taking him to Marondera, where there is notorious torture and interrogation base," the party said.
Before fleeing to South Africa, Bennett had been accused by the ZANU-PF govt. for plotting to overthrow Mugabe from office. Sources say ZANU-PF will revive the case against Bennett. If found guilt, Bennett faces the death penalty.
Bennett's arrests casts doubt on the viability of the inclusive government and sends a clear warning to those Zimbabweans living in exile who fled political persecution by state agents.
Western powers who have refused to lift sanctions will now feel vindicated, for it seems they were right to suspect that Mugabe will never change his tactics of trying to eliminate his opponents.
Bennett's arrest comes in the face of Mugabe's refusal to release all political prisoners still held in prisons across the country on suspicion of trying to overthrow Mugabe.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Mukoko transferred from remand prison to Avenues Clinic
Detained Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko has been released into the custody of the Avenues Clinic for medical attention in compliance with Harare Magistrate Gloria Takundwa’s ruling on 11 February 2009.
This order was granted following an application by defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama that Mukoko was in dire need of medical attention and that there already existed four different court orders to that effect which had not been complied with.
Meanwhile, another ruling before the same court to determine whether the human rights activist and former news anchor with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation warrants her continued detention at the Avenues Clinic is scheduled for 13 February 2009.
This order was granted following an application by defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama that Mukoko was in dire need of medical attention and that there already existed four different court orders to that effect which had not been complied with.
Meanwhile, another ruling before the same court to determine whether the human rights activist and former news anchor with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation warrants her continued detention at the Avenues Clinic is scheduled for 13 February 2009.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
State told to release rights activist to hospital
State told to release rights activist to hospital
A Zimbabwean magistrate on Thursday ordered prison officials
to take detained human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and opposition
activist Fidelis Chiramba to a Harare hospital for medical examination.
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa issued the directive after defence lawyer
Alec Muchadehama asked her to use her powers to ensure the two received
treatment at the Avenues private clinic, one of a few working hospitals in
Harare.
Takundwa ordered prison officials to immediately release Mukoko and
Chiramba to the hospital while she also asked the state to appoint its own
team of doctors to examine the two.
She said requested defence lawyers and the state to submit reports to
her in order to enable her to make a ruling on whether the two activists
should be kept at the hospital or returned to jail.
The two's health is said to have seriously deteriorated while in jail
where prison officials have kept them despite numerous orders to release
them so they could receive proper treatment.
Mukoko, a former state broadcaster and now director of human rights
organisation Zimbabwe Peace Project, and Chiramba are among a group of
rights activists and opposition MDC members accused of attempting to recruit
people for military training in neighbouring Botswana to overthrow Mugabe.
The accused were all kidnapped from different places last year and
held incommunicado for several weeks during which their lawyers say they
were severely tortured by state agents in a bid to force them to admit to
the charges of banditry.
A Zimbabwean magistrate on Thursday ordered prison officials
to take detained human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and opposition
activist Fidelis Chiramba to a Harare hospital for medical examination.
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa issued the directive after defence lawyer
Alec Muchadehama asked her to use her powers to ensure the two received
treatment at the Avenues private clinic, one of a few working hospitals in
Harare.
Takundwa ordered prison officials to immediately release Mukoko and
Chiramba to the hospital while she also asked the state to appoint its own
team of doctors to examine the two.
She said requested defence lawyers and the state to submit reports to
her in order to enable her to make a ruling on whether the two activists
should be kept at the hospital or returned to jail.
The two's health is said to have seriously deteriorated while in jail
where prison officials have kept them despite numerous orders to release
them so they could receive proper treatment.
Mukoko, a former state broadcaster and now director of human rights
organisation Zimbabwe Peace Project, and Chiramba are among a group of
rights activists and opposition MDC members accused of attempting to recruit
people for military training in neighbouring Botswana to overthrow Mugabe.
The accused were all kidnapped from different places last year and
held incommunicado for several weeks during which their lawyers say they
were severely tortured by state agents in a bid to force them to admit to
the charges of banditry.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
HAIL TO THOSE IN THE TRENCHES, FIGHTING THE DICTATORSHIP!
By Reuben Kachisi
As Zanu PF continues on its destructive path, human rights defenders are getting more and more radicalized. That's the level of spiritual maturity and moral maturity by the sacrificial Zimbabwean human rights defender who does not give up on the Socratic attempt to interrogate the mendacity, duplicity and hypocrisy of African leadership, but is rooted in something deep. It's rooted in an attempt to keep track of the humanity of the very people who have dehumanized you. Use that as the standard of responding to pre-independence disposition in light of events in Zimbabwe for the last 10 years. Subject to random and unjustified violence, unsafe, unprotected and hated for whom they were.
We need to talk publicly about the courage to love. Love becomes a form of exigency. It helps break down the barriers, the wall of demarcation. So even the rage of the hapless Zimbabweans, the fury and the righteous indignation of even to look at the Zanu PF dictatorship in the face and all its dimensions and still persist the language of love, and still help Mugabe’s supporters to recognize that it's not all of them and it's not genetic.
A nation that was once the jewel of Africa is now in a cataclysmic downward spiral and shockingly still maintains this plutocratic and oligarchy in its structures and finds itself in the same bubble of guilt as those who to some degree still maintain a pigmentocratic hierarchy in their socio-political and economic polices. The most vulnerable are the children. And who is most connected to the children? It’s the poor women. Where is the discourse? Where is the outrage, where is the indignation by the so-called Pan-Africanists? Or is it the sleepwalking that has become normative? No repression lasts forever. Chickens do come home to roost, you reap what you sow and reality will come back to you. Hail to those in the trenches fighting the dictatorship!
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