OVERVIEW

It is with the deepest regret and sadness that ten years after the formation of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) to assist victims of the 1998 Food Riots, the organisation is still in existence battling with the same phenomenon of fighting impunity, seeking justice for victims of state sponsored and organised brutality and trying to combat torture on a larger scale. The year 2007 started and ended on a bad note in terms of politically - motivated violence and general abuse of state power by the police and state security agents. Several confirmed and unconfirmed reports to the Forum from January – December and in the press indicated excessive use of force by the state agents. Amidst deteriorating political, economic and social conditions, various groups such as the NCA, WOZA, ZINASU, ZCTU, lawyers and many other human rights defenders demonstrated to draw the Government of Zimbabwe’s (GoZ) attention to these issues.

In February and March 2007, civil society activists attempted to hold numerous meetings and demonstrations in response to the plummeting political and economic conditions within the country. It had also become apparent by then that President Mugabe was planning to set the next parliamentary and presidential elections for March 2008, and opposition parties attempted to hold several meetings to launch their election campaigns. The ZRP did everything possible to try to prevent these activities and any other form of dissent from taking place. They disrupted, tear - gassed and banned meetings and demonstrations, and arrested close to 300 people in February alone. Many of those arrested over this period were tortured while in police custody, usually at the hands of the notorious Law and Order Section of the ZRP.

On 11 March 2007, a very gruesome tragedy occurred when police disrupted a planned prayer meeting organised by civil society organisations under the banner of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. Close to 168 would be participants were tortured by the police on that fateful day in police stations dotted all over Harare. Furthermore, the ZRP shot and killed one Gift Tandari, NCA member allegedly for being the ring - leader in the running battles that ensued between the police and the people intending to have the prayer meeting.

Despite promises of changing the political environment especially in recognition of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation initiative between the ZANU PF and the two MDC factions, politically motivated violence, and use of force by state security agents in Zimbabwe continued. In separate responses to the concerns raised by civil society and the MDC on the continuing politically motivated violence, the GoZ through the Minister of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi¹ and President Mugabe² noted that any allegations of violence after the 11 March 2007 incidents were false. However, the Forum contends that the year 2007 has been the worst and evidence to corroborate these allegations is available.

Of the politically - motivated and state sponsored violence that occurred countrywide in 2007, statistical figures in this report show that there were 19 cases of abductions, 855 of assaults, 3 477 violations on freedoms of expression, association and movement, 586 cases of torture, 3 352 cases of unlawful arrest and detention in total and 3 murders. In the majority of the torture cases, members of the ZRP or the CIO or both working in concert were involved.

This report first gives a run down of the human rights violations that took place in December 2007 before giving a comparative analysis between 2006 and 2007. The statistics for 2006 and 2007 vary in terms of violations. However, what is quite apparent is that the violations which mainly restrict people in political participation increased significantly in 2007. Violations which mainly involve the police, CIO and other state security agents, such as freedom from torture, unlawful detention and arrest, assaults, freedoms of expression, association and movement were seriously violated in 2007.

This report is significant in the sense that it helps give an overall analysis on information submitted to the Forum on politically - motivated violence in 2007. There is no doubt that politically - motivated violence informs and influences political thinking amongst citizens and ultimately voting patterns in favour of those responsible for the violence. Given that the electoral process includes incidents that occur and influence elections, the March 2008 election has already been tainted by the violence that was attendant on the year 2007.

In 2007, the ZRP issued two reports, entitled ‘Opposition Forces in Zimbabwe: A Trail of Violence’³ (Ist report) and ‘Opposition Forces in Zimbabwe: The Naked Truth, Volume 2’⁴ (2^nd report). The reports sought to portray opposition parties and civic organisations as grouped together for the purpose of violently removing the Mugabe government. The Forum issued a response in August 2007⁵ after making a thorough assessment of the ZRP’s allegations and came up with the conclusion that the arguments raised in the reports were false and did not hold water. This report will assist in disproving the allegations raised in the two ZRP infamous reports.

Totals: 1 December – 31 December 2007

Cumulative Totals: 1 January – 31 December 2007

The graph should be read along with the table depicting the monthly totals of violations for December 2007 on page 10.

Key Abbreviations

Sources: The information contained in this report is derived from statements made to the Public Interest Unit of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, its members and statements taken by a network of human rights activists and newspaper reports,

Notes to the tables:

Torture:

All cases of torture fall under the definition of torture according to the general definition given in the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment.

The four elements of torture are:

1. Severe pain and suffering, whether physical or mental

2. Intentionally inflicted

3. With a purpose

4. By a state official or another individual acting with the acquiescence of the state.

Those individuals referred to in point # 4 as state officials include the ZRP, ZNA,

Unlawful arrest and detention:

Arrest by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) with no reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed. Detention thereafter for a period exceeding 48 hours without access to redress through the courts or subsequent release without charge.

Abduction/kidnapping:

A kidnapping by a member(s) of an organised group that is not the ZRP, ZNLWVA, ZNA, ZPS and the ZNLWVA (as a reserve force of the ZNA).

Disappearance:

Kidnapped persons whose whereabouts remained unknown at the time of reporting.

Property related

These are incidents in which property rights have been violated. This includes arson, property damage and destruction and theft.

Cases of Political Violence

Note: The identities of victims whose names have not been published in the press and are not public officials are protected. This is done in order to protect the victim from further violence, intimidation and possible recriminatory attacks.

The purpose of this report is to record the nature of the politically motivated violence and intimidation that continues to prevail in the country. The Monthly Political Violence Reports are primarily based on victims’ accounts, accompanied by medical evidence where possible, obtained from member organisations of the Forum and other partner organisations. Use is also made of press reports.

The Report cannot be considered as the exhaustive record of all incidents of politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe in the period under review. Nevertheless, every incident reported to the Human Rights Forum directly or through its members is meticulously documented and included in the reports. Care is also taken to record the incidents in the language in which they were reported to the Forum.

The situation prevailing in the country is such that it has not been possible to verify all of these accounts. The Forum has done what it can to verify the reports, and is satisfied that the vast majority of them are substantially true. It is also not possible to rule out whether a victim’s account is exaggerated or contains inaccuracies.

All reports derived from the press are denoted with the symbol ∑.

BULAWAYO

Makokoba

2 December 2007

Sheunesu Nyoni, (National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Students Executive Council (SEC) Secretary General,) Brian Mtisi (Secretary for information and publicity) and Themba Maphenduka were severely assaulted by uniformed members of the ZNA at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) Station in Bulawayo.

The students were waiting to board the Harare bound train from Bulawayo on their way to a Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) workshop in Harare. NRZ officials however cancelled the journey for that day and announced information to that effect. The three students are reported to have mentioned in a discussion amongst themselves that the unavailability of the train service was due to the fact that the train was being used to transport delegates to the ZANU PF congress that was taking place in Harare at the time.

The students’ utterances riled the soldiers, and the students were manhandled and assaulted by ZNA officers manning the train station. The soldiers used broomsticks, clenched fists and heavily booted feet to assault the students. The students sustained swollen eyes and bruises all over their bodies.  They were later detained at Bulawayo Central Police Station and charged with being a criminal nuisance. They were released after paying admission of guilt fines.

HARARE

Harare Central

7 December 2007

The police are reported to have violently dispersed a demonstration by the members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in central Harare. The NCA was demanding a new, democratic constitution for Zimbabwe.

Close to 300 protesters were holding placards denouncing the recent Constitutional Amendment No. 18 agreed between the ruling ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

The police reportedly charged at the demonstrators who were marching along Nelson Mandela Avenue in central Harare beating them with truncheons.  State security agents are alleged to have picked up Credence Sithole, an intern with the NCA’s information department, as he took pictures during the commotion.

11 December 2007

Over 300 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) conducted a peaceful protest to Parliament to deliver the Peoples’ Charter to parliamentarians. The protest was blocked meters away from Parliament by riot police and 10 WOZA members were assaulted by police while dispersing near Angwa Street. One of the women sustained a dislocated elbow as a result of being beaten with a baton stick. Three women who were not involved in the protest were arrested and detained at the Law and Order section of Harare Central Police Station on allegations of being a criminal nuisance under the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act. The three were allegedly taking pictures of the demonstration. They were released after paying admission of guilt fines of Z $40 000 each.

Highfield

3 December 2007

The male victim reports that he was assaulted by a ZANU PF member at the ZANU PF Machipisa offices for not attending the ‘million-man march’ held on 30 November 2007. The march had been called by ZANU (PF) to support President Mugabe’s succession to the Presidency in the forthcoming elections. On the day in question while at his place of work at Machipisa shopping center, the victim was summoned to the ZANU PF Machipisa offices by a ZANU PF youth. He reports that he was questioned on why he had attended the MDC rally on 2 December 2007, which he denied. He was warned to stop sitting at the public park at the shopping center, as he was a “sell out”. The victim was dragged into another room at the offices and forced to sit on a wet floor and ordered to remove his shoes. He was slapped, assaulted with a broom on the left arm and under both feet and on the left leg. He reports that after the assault he was ordered to put on his shoes and leave the offices. He reported the matter at Machipisa police station on the following day.

MIDLANDS

Kwekwe

2 December 2007

Four student activists were arrested, tortured and detained in Kwekwe at a roadblock on allegations of being MDC supporters. The four activists, Gordon Mukarati, Stevenson Chitsungo, Mehluli Due and Laswet Savage were travelling to Harare from Bulawayo after a ZINASU workshop. They were wearing t - shirts with the picture of the late MDC activist Learnmore Jongwe. They were detained for 5 hours and later released after signing warned and cautioned statements.

MASVINGO

Masvingo North

3 December 2007

The wife and seven-year-old son of the MDC chairperson and council candidate for ward 7 in Masvingo urban were assaulted by five armed police officers and accused of harbouring weapons of war in their family home. The police officers slapped the woman and manhandled the boy injuring his left arm. The incident occurred while the woman’s husband for whom they were looking was attending an MDC rally.

Manicaland

Chimanimani

23 December 2007

It is reported that Brighton Mashopeka Muchuwa, a ZANU PF supporter in Chimanimani, murdered Charles Sigauke an MDC supporter. The deceased is reported to have been in the company of his nephew when Muchuwa who was allegedly incensed by the fact that the deceased and his nephew had used a path close to his homestead.

Muchuwa allegedly assaulted the victim with clenched fists; open hands and kicked him all over the body. The deceased’s nephew fled from the attacker and tried to solicit help from residents of the area but assistance was not forthcoming. Following the attack, Sigauke was aided back home by his nephew. Muchuwa allegedly warned his victims not to report the incident to the police. Sigauke was taken to Chimanimani Hospital on 26 December and died that same evening. It is at this juncture that the matter was reported to the police and a post mortem was carried out. The results of the post-mortem apparently revealed that Sigauke had died as a result of injuries sustained during the attack by Muchuwa. Sigauke was buried in Goko village, Birchenough Bridge on 1 January 2008.

Mutare North

07 December 2007

Twenty - two people, twelve men and ten women, were arrested while attending a public meeting in a cleared bush area in Sakubva. Among the arrested were two female members of WOZA. The meeting had been convened to discuss social issues affecting the community such as unsafe sexual practices among other issues. The two members of WOZA were detained over the weekend at Sakubva Police Station in Mutare and released after paying admission of guilt fines. The other 20 men and women were detained for a few hours and released after payment of admission of guilt fines

The table below and the graphs on page 4 depict the number of violations committed on

the persons whose circumstances are described in the report. One individual may have been subjected to many violations and thus appear under several categories of violations.

Monthly totals of human rights violations from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007

Table 1

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

2007 appears to have been the worst year for the number of violations reported to the Human Rights Forum. In fact, 2007 accounts for 30% of all violations reported to date, and 2006 and 2007 together are nearly half of all violations since the Human Rights Forum began giving statistical reports in July 2001. This can be clearly seen from the Table below. Furthermore, it is evident that the overall trend, apart from 2004, shows that human rights violations have been increasing each year since 2001.

Table 2

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Totals
Abductions	116	223	52	62	18	11	19	501
Unlawful arrest and detention	670	274	627	389	1286	2917	3352	9515
Assault	0	86	388	401	530	509	855	2746
attempted murder	0	2	10	8	1	3	0	24
death threats	0	12	80	35	9	7	7	150
disappearance	0	28	4	0	0	0	0	32
displacement	0	11	208	189	609	55	6	1078
Freedoms	12	39	809	760	1036	1866	3 477	7999
Murder	34	61	10	3	4	1	3	117
Political discrimination	194	388	450	514	488	296	980	3290
property violation	356	807	153	132	79	58	13	1577
Rape	0	7	6	3	4	1	0	21
school closure	0	45	1	0	0	0	0	46
Torture	903	1172	497	160	136	368	586	3822
Total	2285	3155	3295	2656	4200	6092	9298	30 918

Against this understanding, some brief comparisons between 2006 and 2007 are made. The trends between the 2 years will be analysed. The full details of the violations recorded during 2006 and 2007 are given below.

Table 3

	2006	2007
Abductions	11	19
Assault	509	855
Attempted murder	3	0
Death threats	7	7
Disappearance	0	0
Displacement	55	6
Freedoms	1866	3477
Murder	1	3
Political discrimination	296	980
Property violation	58	13
Rape	1	0
School closure	0	0
Torture	368	586
Unlawful arrest	1460	1676
Unlawful detention	1457	1676
Total	6092	9297

As can be seen from the Table above, there were many more violations recorded in 2007 than in 2006. Very marked increases are seen in the number of unlawful arrests & detentions, torture and interference with basic freedoms. Overall it cannot be concluded that 2007 has seen any improvement in the human rights climate.

11 March 2007 and other Incidents

On 11 March and in instances reminiscent of September 2006⁶ Zimbabwe witnessed alarming levels of politically motivated violence perpetrated by state agents including the ZRP, CIO, alleged ZANU PF supporters and in some instances suspected MDC supporters. This happened when opposition political party leaders, supporters, civil society activists, church leaders and scores of the general Zimbabwean public, under the banner of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, were brutalised and arrested for converging at Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield for an intended prayer meeting. A number of the victims on that fateful day were incarcerated in police stations dotted across Harare. Furthermore, the ZRP shot and killed one Gift Tandari, an NCA member, allegedly for being the ‘ring – leader’ in the running battles that ensued between the police and the people intending to hold the prayer meeting.

The police arrested over 50 opposition leaders, members and civil society activists who had tried to make their way to the meeting. About 30 were taken to Machipisa Police Station. Others such as MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai were arrested when they went to the Machipisa police station to locate their colleagues. Eyewitness accounts of what followed at Machipisa were given by several victims, some of which are reproduced below. The activists were held in a fenced courtyard outside the police cells. A group of 15 men and some women then entered the court yard and ordered the arrestees to lie on the ground. They then commenced beating the activists with batons, iron bars, buckled belts and whips and kicking and jumping on them. The assaults continued for three hours, with the assailants working in teams of four. Prominent MDC leaders, among them Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Lovemore Madhuku, Grace Kwinjeh, Nelson Chamisa, and Sekai Holland, were singled out for special treatment. Nelson Chamisa was whipped for almost twenty minutes and Morgan Tsvangirai lost consciousness three times during the course of the assault, losing a large amount of blood from a head wound. An amputee was callously beaten on the stump of his leg and a man who had been disabled from polio had his disabled leg smashed at the ankle with an iron bar. Over 48 hours would pass before any medical attention was allowed to the injured. Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) later noted the following concerning people treated by their members:

“Some of the injuries documented were consistent with beatings with blunt objects heavy enough to cause the following:

• Fractures to hands, arms and legs in 5 individuals including Lovemore Madhuku with a fractured ulna. 3 of these, Elton Mangoma, Sekai Holland and Morgan Tsvangirai sustained multiple fractures.

• Severe, extensive and multiple soft tissue injuries to the backs, shoulders, arms, buttocks and thighs of 14 individuals.

• Head injuries to 3 individuals, Nelson Chamisa, Morgan Tsvangirai and Lovemore Madhuku with the latter two sustaining deep lacerations to the scalp.

• A possible ruptured bowel in 1 individual due to severe blunt trauma to the abdomen.

• A split right ear lobe sustained by Grace Kwinjeh.

• Prolonged detention without accessing medical treatment resulted in severe haemorrhage in Morgan Tsvangirai leading to severe anaemia, which warranted a blood transfusion.

• Injuries sustained by Sekai Holland were also worsened by denial of timely access to medical treatment, which led to an infection of deep soft tissue in her left leg.

• Denial of access to treatment in another individual suffering from hypertension lead to angina”.⁷

After the assaults, the arrestees were ordered to board a truck. A group had to lift the prone body of Morgan Tsvangirai onto the truck. The group was taken to Harare Central Police Station and again put into a courtyard where they were questioned by police officers and members of the CIO. In a technique fr