The recent passing of one of Zimbabwe\u2019s foremost human rights defenders, Mike Auret, has rekindled questions of the potential role of faith-based organizations in addressing the country\u2019s long history of human rights abuses. After leaving political life in Zimbabwe, in 2003 he emigrated to Ireland, where he died this past Good Friday.<\/p>\n
For many years, Mr. Auret led the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and was at the forefront of documenting atrocities under Prime Minister Robert Mugabe in the 1980s that left more 20,000 people dead. That era still haunts the present administration as activists press government officials to acknowledge and atone for past human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
In the post-colonial era they include the murder and attempted murder of opposition leaders and their supporters dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 2000s, under a controversial land reform program, violent farm invasions led to the killing of white farmers by ruling party supporters.<\/p>\n
As under Mugabe, Zimbabwe\u2019s contemporary political elite continue to trample on civil libertie with what the same disregard of censure from both local moral authorities and international human rights organizations.During the widely condemned Operation Clear the Filth in 2005, millions of homes were bulldozed under Mugabe\u2019s orders, justified then as an effort to demolish illegal construction and contain criminal activity, and during the run-up to the 2008 general elections the attempted murder of longtime Mugabe opponent Morgan Tsvangirai was accompanied by an escalation of political violence against the opposition.<\/p>\n
Now the nation\u2019s contemporary political elite continue to trample on civil liberties, critics charge, with what appears to be the same disregard of censure from both local moral authorities and international human rights organizations.<\/p>\n
After the fall of Mugabe in November 2017, incoming president Emmerson Mngagagwa made commitments to undo the dark past of the human rights violations of his mentor\u2014he had served as vice president under Mr. Mugabe\u2014pledging that he would be a \u201clistening president\u201d and that political violence and state-sponsored human rights abuses would be a thing of the past.<\/p>\n
Instead, human rights monitors say, there has been an escalation of abuse. Human Rights Watch observes that \u201cdespite President Emerson Mnangagwa repeatedly voicing his commitments to human rights reforms, Zimbabwe remained highly intolerant of basic rights, peaceful dissent, and free expression in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Political abductions, torture of comedians who poke fun at the regime, shooting of demonstrators, and charges of treason and arrests of journalists all have become daily fare under Mr. Mngagagwa, according to local media.<\/p>\n
Rights abuses have only grown more intense as social restrictions engendered by the Covid-19 crisis took hold in recent months. Lockdown violators have suffered under the heavy-handed enforcement by the state security apparatus. Many allege enforcement efforts have been unnecessarily violent and designed to intimidate dissenters, not protect public health.<\/p>\n
During the Covid-19 crisis human rights monitors say, there has been an escalation of abuse in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
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\nThe Covid-19 crisis comes as Zimbabwe already faces a host of other economic and social problems, including unemployment, steep increases in the cost of basic commodities, and fuel shortages and fuel price spikes\u2014not unlike the fuel hikes that triggered mass protests and the shooting of demonstrators by soldiers last year.<\/p>\n
Critics say the human rights abuses that have occurred during the Covid-19 lockdown may be an attempt by the ruling party to clamp down on dissent that could lead to a repeat of last year\u2019s countrywide protests. Human rights activists and faith-based agencies say that Zimbabwe\u2019s weak political and civil institutions have not been able to check the state\u2019s excesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman rights thinking has no tradition in Zimbabwe,\u201d said Oskar Wermter, a German Jesuit priest who has lived in Zimbabwe for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe black majority which came to power in 1980 has not learned much about human rights. A place like Silveira House\u201d\u2014the social development center of the Jesuits in Harare, Zimbabwe\u2019s capital city\u2014\u201ctaught Catholic Social Doctrine, but this did not have much impact on the country as a whole,\u201d Father Wermter said.<\/p>\n
Violations of lockdown restrictions or resistors to the compulsory wearing of face masks have been met with police and military brutality, prompting criticism from the United States, the European Union and local human rights lawyers.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on May 20, the Law Society of Zimbabwe raised concerns about what they called a disturbing increase in abuses, calling on the \u201cstate to discharge its constitutional duties and credibly investigate and prosecute all cases of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Human rights defenders say that it has become \u201clife threatening\u201d to be an activist in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
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\nThe statement came days after the police said members of the force accused of brutally assaulting civilians would be subjected to internal police disciplinary processes. That meant security officers charged with offenses would not be appearing before a court of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese [violations] constitute a reversal of our aspirations of a democratic country that respects the constitution and rule of law,\u201d the Law Society said.<\/p>\n
Even as complaints of police brutality grew, the country\u2019s justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, appeared to justify such human rights abuses when he told Parliament on May 21 that the civilians and legislators who had suffered assaults deserved that treatment because they had broken lockdown violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a fact that the said individuals broke the law in that we have lockdown regulations that prohibit demonstrations,\u201d Mr. Ziyambi told local media. \u201cSo these individuals are wanted by the police so that they can be interviewed on why they broke the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same individuals are not cooperating with the police, but seem to be very happy to be at the hospital,\u201d said the justice minister, referring to victims who spoke with media from their hospital beds where they were being treated after an alleged kidnapping, assault and sexual assault at the hands of people suspected to be state security agents.<\/p>\n
The police claimed that such reports of abduction and assault have been staged to paint a bad image of Zimbabwe\u2019s poor human rights record before the international community. But in a statement released on May 22, the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations, an ecumenical group that includes the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, lamented what it saw as growing impunity by the state.<\/p>\n
Justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, appeared to justify human rights abuses, telling Parliament that the civilians and legislators who suffered assaults deserved that treatment because they had broken Covid-19 lockdown violations.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cIt is deeply disturbing that the country has so many cases of abductions and torture in the last few months, most of which have not been conclusively investigated,\u201d the church leaders said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is further disturbing are the insinuations by some state agents that all these abductions are either stage managed or carried out by an unrecognizable third force without substantiating such claims with credible and irrefutable evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mugabe, noted both for his academic background and for fiery rhetoric that at times led to violent consequences, once joked that he and his ruling party had \u201cdegrees in violence.\u201d That legacy appears to have become entrenched in Zimbabwe\u2019s political culture even after his death, observers say.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert Mugabe, though a Catholic and quite familiar with Silveira House and the Jesuits there, did not respect Catholic Social Teaching,\u201d said Father Wermter. \u201cHis was a Gospel of Power. The consideration of his and his party\u2019s political power overruled all moral and spiritual considerations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMugabe used to say that his government was in power because it had won the liberation war, not because they had been voted democratically into power,\u201d Father Wermter added. \u201cFor a government with such a tradition\u2014Mnangagwa is no different in this respect from his predecessor Robert Mugabe\u2014giving up violence as a political tool is difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dewa Mavhinga, the director of Human Rights Watch for southern Africa, agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same system and governing party Zanu PF that presided over abuses with impunity since 1980 remain in charge today under President Mnangagwa,\u201d Mr. Mavhinga said. \u201cThe removal of Robert Mugabe did not change much because it is the same system that remains in charge and committing abuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cZimbabwe authorities must allow independent investigations into abuses and punish perpetrators of abuses. The government spends huge amounts paying P.R. companies in Washington, D.C., in the hope that those companies will help image issues,\u201d he said, \u201cbut the truth is simply that no one in the international community will respect a country that allows abductions, torture and rampant rape of women.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Zimbabwe\u2019s lawyers noted in their statement, Mr. Mnangagwa\u2019s current administration has not shown an inclination to shift from the reliance on human rights abuses that partly defined his predecessor\u2019s 37 years of uninterrupted rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Society is concerned that allegations of arbitrary use of violence and torture by security forces are becoming commonplace in our country,\u201d the lawyers said. \u201cThis poses a grave threat to our constitutional democracy.\u201d The association\u2019s own members have not been spared assaults at the hands of security forces.<\/p>\n
Human rights defenders say that it has become \u201clife threatening\u201d to be an activist in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest challenge for human rights defenders in Zimbabwe is the operating space,\u201d said Effie Ncube, the director of the Matabeleland Constitutional Reform Agenda. \u201cThere are still very limited spaces where activists can operate without fear of losing their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are, however, ways to hold the state accountable,\u201d he said. \u201cOne\u2026is civic education and exposure by the media while the courts, despite their known flaws, must also be utilized to expose the state\u2019s excesses,\u201d Mr. Ncube said. Activists in Zimbabwe complain that local courts have been slow in hearing cases against the state.<\/p>\n
So far there appears to be little to provide comfort to violence- and poverty-weary Zimbabweans as they wait for elections in 2023, a national vote that has in the past been marred by violence and allegations of electoral theft. There are fears the current spate of human rights violations could be a harbinger of worse things to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The recent passing of one of Zimbabwe\u2019s foremost human rights defenders, Mike Auret, has rekindled questions of the potential role of faith-based organizations in addressing the country\u2019s long history of human rights abuses. After leaving political life in Zimbabwe, in 2003 he emigrated to Ireland, where he died this past Good Friday. For many years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[30,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-23888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-robert-mugabe","10":"tag-tsvangirai"},"yoast_head":"\n