Covering events from January-December 2001

Republic of Zimbabwe
Head of state and government: Robert Mugabe
Capital: Harare
Population: 12.9 million
Official language: English
Death penalty: retentionist

The human rights situation steadily deteriorated in 2001 as violence escalated in the run-up to the 2002 presidential elections. There were numerous and consistent reports of forced evictions, arbitrary arrests, beatings, torture and political killings, amounting to a pattern of deliberate, state-sponsored repression of opposition to the government or its policies. Abuses were reported to be widespread throughout the country, but intensified in the run-up to by-elections and during farm occupations. Most were carried out by the so-called "war veterans" – groups armed and supported by the police and army – and other supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), who were able to act with impunity. There were growing reports that the police not only stood by and failed to intervene in assaults by "war veterans", but also actively took part in a number of attacks alongside ZANU-PF supporters. Freedom of expression came under increasing restrictions during the year. Journalists and lawyers were arbitrarily detained, beaten, tortured and threatened for reporting on political or human rights issues or representing the victims of human rights violations.

Background

Reports emerged during the year that the Zimbabwean government was planning the biggest ever logging operation – 81.5 million acres – in the tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The rights to the rainforest were conceded by the DRC government in return for Zimbabwe's military aid, including an estimated 1,000 troops, in the continuing conflict with rebel forces in eastern DRC.

In September the Zimbabwean government reached agreement with Commonwealth governments in Abuja, Nigeria, to renew its commitment to the 1991 Harare Declaration. This calls on all Commonwealth governments to work for "the protection and promotion of the fundamental political values of the Commonwealth" including the rule of law and fundamental human rights. Continued reports of land seizures and human rights violations indicated the agreement was not honoured.


Elections

By-elections in three constituencies following the deaths of sitting Members of Parliament were the catalyst for a series of politically motivated attacks, assaults and abductions. The victims included candidates for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), MDC activists and supporters, and voters with no apparent political affiliations.

Although some violent clashes reportedly involved both ruling party and opposition supporters, the vast majority of victims appeared to be opposition supporters.

  • In April an MDC supporter was allegedly abducted from his home in the Harare suburb of Dzivaresekwa. He was taken to the outskirts of the town by assailants who burned an "X" on his back with red-hot chains and threatened to kill him. He was believed to have been attacked because he had distributed MDC party cards. He said that he did not report the assault to the police because he feared reprisals from his attackers.
  • Douglas Chapoterera, the MDC's vice-chairperson for the Makoni West constituency, his wife, niece, and four children, narrowly escaped death in August when their house in Dewedzo was reportedly set on fire by ZANU-PF supporters. A group of about 50 ZANU-PF supporters reportedly arrived at the house just before midnight brandishing pickaxe handles and sticks. They reportedly smashed the windows and front door before dousing the house in petrol and setting it alight. Douglas Chapoterera's wife required hospital treatment for injuries she sustained when she fought her way past the attackers and back into the burning house to rescue her baby son. The attack was reported to the police. However, by the end of the year the police had taken no action; no one had been arrested and no evidence gathered.
Farm occupations

Up to 70,000 black farm workers were estimated to have been assaulted and forced to abandon their homes by state-sponsored militia composed of "war veterans" and other ZANU-PF supporters. Many were destitute after losing both their livelihoods and all their belongings when their houses were razed to the ground. Farm invasions were stepped up during 2001 and reports indicated that 90 per cent of the commercial farms in the country were on a government list of farms for acquisition. In Mashonaland West Province, for example, some 7,000 farm workers were reported to have been forcibly evicted from their homes in August alone. There were increasingly grave warnings of a looming crisis in the country when staple crops ran out.

The police evicted some 1,000 illegal settlers from a farm belonging to a wealthy British long-standing supporter of ZANU-PF. However, this was in sharp contrast to the authorities' failure to evict illegal settlers elsewhere in the country. State complicity in these occupations was clear. Senior police officers failed to implement court orders to evict illegal settlers and there were reports that in some instances police vehicles were used by "war veterans" coordinating illegal occupations.

The majority of the victims of assaults by "war veterans" were black farm workers, although white commercial farmers and business people, and journalists were also the victims of politically motivated attacks.
  • In June, Zondiwa Dumukani, a 32-year-old driver working at the Blackfordby farm in Waterfalls on the outskirts of Harare, was reportedly beaten to death by a group of eight "war veterans" and ZANU-PF youths. According to reports, police officers in the area ignored the assault and did not try to intervene. Fellow farm workers said that the attackers wanted all farm employees to see the farm owner being forced to leave and that Zondiwa Dumukani was killed because he went in search of his son and was accused of running away by the ZANU-PF supporters. No one had been arrested or charged in connection with the killing. However, the farm owner and around 30 employees were arrested following Zondiwa Dumukani's death and charged with assaulting the "war veterans" and ZANU-PF supporters.
Police involvement in abuses

Police officers were directly implicated in some instances of beatings and torture and reportedly used excessive force to disperse peaceful protesters. The police also consistently failed to take adequate steps to prevent incidents of violence and intimidation and to arrest those responsible. In some cases they reportedly arrested opposition party activists to prevent them from campaigning in rural by-elections. In addition, roadblocks manned jointly by the police, security forces and ZANU-PF supporters were reportedly used to stop and search travellers for evidence of their support for the MDC. As a result, journalists, election monitors, opposition activists and others involved in activities connected to by-elections, had their freedom of movement restricted.
  • Tawanda Hondora, Chairperson of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, was attacked in April in Chikomba constituency, Mashonaland East Province. He alleged that he was kicked, beaten and whipped by ZANU-PF supporters armed with stones and axes. He alleged that police officers stood by and watched the assault without attempting to intervene. He and two lawyers with him lodged a complaint at the Sadza police station, where his request for a medical examination was refused and the three lawyers were searched and interrogated about their suspected affiliation to the MDC. A complaint was later lodged with the police in Harare, but Sadza police officials denied that the incident ever took place. Tawanda Hondora had gone to Chikomba with the two other lawyers to investigate allegations of intimidation and assault of witnesses in cases where election procedures were being challenged in the High Court.
  • Police detained some 18 MDC officials and staff following the 5 November abduction and murder of ruling party supporter Cain Nkala, a leading member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association. At the time of his death, Cain Nkala had been awaiting trial on charges of abducting MDC organizer Patrick Nabanyama, who "disappeared" after being abducted by "war veterans" in June 2000. Members of Parliament Fletcher Dulini Ncube and Moses Mzila Ndlovu, and MDC adviser Simon Spooner were among the MDC officials subsequently charged with abduction and murder. The Court failed to act on allegations by four detainees – Kethani Sibanda, Remember Moyo, Sazini Mpofu and Gilbert Moyo – that they had been held in unlawfully prolonged incommunicado detention, tortured, threatened at gunpoint unless they signed confessions already written for them, and forced to implicate themselves and other detained MDC officials. The detentions appeared to be politically motivated. Reacting to the news of Cain Nkala's abduction, Vice-President Joseph Msika threatened the MDC with a "bloodbath". President Mugabe repeated accusations against the MDC, calling the killing a "terrorist provocation" and naming Simon Spooner as the culprit.
In the area of Chimanimani, state-sponsored militia coordinated by the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), the security police, systematically beat and intimidated residents, who were represented in Parliament by an opposition party politician.
  • In November, CIO officers, "war veterans" and ZANU-PF supporters allegedly abducted two men and urinated in their faces, threw sand in their eyes, threatened to kill them and beat them unconscious with whips, electric cable and rocks while questioning them about MDC activities. The CIO officer in charge had allegedly been involved in the death of Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika, two MDC activists burned to death in a petrol bomb attack in April 2000. Although the High Court issued a summons in April 2000 to the officer to answer murder charges, police said that they did not know his whereabouts and failed to arrest him.
Students
  • In April police action to end protests by students over reductions in college grants at the University of Zimbabwe campus in Harare left one student dead and at least 28 others injured. The police said that Batanai Hadzidzi died after being trampled to death by students who were fleeing in panic after riot police fired tear gas into their accommodation. However, eyewitnesses stated that he was not actively involved in the protests and was beaten to death by riot police using truncheons on 8 April. No investigation is known to have been carried out into this death or into the wounding of several students the next day when police fired live ammunition to break up a non-violent protest march against police brutality.
Attacks on journalists

More than 40 journalists from privately owned newspapers who tried to report on political or human rights issues, or who filed reports critical of the government, were harassed, beaten and threatened. In some cases criminal charges were also brought against journalists in an attempt to hinder them from carrying out their work.
  • Geoff Nyarota, editor-in-chief of The Daily News, was arrested in August with three journalist colleagues over an article containing allegations of police complicity in a wave of looting on commercial farms in Chinhoyi, Doma and Mhangura in Mashonaland West Province. The report alleged that attackers had used police vans to move looted goods. The three journalists were held for several hours before being released by court order after charges against them were dismissed. Geoff Nyarota was released after a judge ruled that the charge against him of "publishing false news" was unlawful. The printing press of The Daily News had been bombed in January, days after President Mugabe accused the paper of being a mouthpiece for the opposition.
  • The government deported three foreign journalists, branding others as "terrorists", banned the BBC from entering the country and blocked CNN broadcasts. In November it published the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, which would require Zimbabwean journalists to apply annually to a government-controlled panel for a licence to write, impose jail sentences for breaches of a strict code of conduct and restrict entry for foreign journalists to the country.
The judiciary under pressure

The government continued its attempts to undermine the impartiality of the judiciary. On several occasions the government refused to comply with Supreme Court judgments. Four senior judges resigned during the year, apparently as a result of harassment or government pressure.
  • Anthony Gubbay, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, took early retirement in March, reportedly after receiving a series of threats. On at least one occasion "war veterans" forced their way into the High Court in Harare armed with steel rods and threatened him. His resignation reportedly came after he received assurances from the government that it would not put pressure on other judges to resign; he received no assurances that his safety would be protected. Esmael Chatikobo, a High Court judge, resigned in May. He had reportedly angered ZANU-PF officials by issuing a restraining order in 2000 to prevent police from raiding the private radio station Capital Radio. Another judge, James Devittie, resigned in June, a few days after handing down three judgments against ZANU-PF and in favour of the opposition in electoral petitions challenging election results filed by the MDC.
AI country reports/visits

Reports
  • Zimbabwe: International community must take action now (AI Index: AFR 46/003/2001)
  • Zimbabwe: Appeal to the European Union and the Commonwealth (AI Index: AFR 46/010/2001)
Visits

AI delegates visited Zimbabwe in May, November and December.

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