By Kudakwashe Vhenge
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)and the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) topped human rights violations in the month of July, the Zimbabwe Peace Project reported (ZPP).
In its latest monthly monitoring report for July, the human rights watchdog said a combined 80.66 % of all the reported abuses were committed by the ZRP and ZNA personnel that were deployed by government to enforce the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
“During the month, ZPP recorded 48 cases of unlawful detention, 68 cases of assault and 168 cases of harassment and intimidation, 15 cases of abduction and torture, with the majority of these being attributable to state security agents,” read the report.
The 31 July demonstrations organised by Jacob Ngarivhume following the unearthing of widespread corruption in government offices including the Drax scandal drew support from the masses.
The Mnangagwa led administration was prompted to use the security forces’ heavy handedness approach on civilians in order to hinder impending protests in the guise of enforcing the lockdown restrictions.
This saw a rise in cases of assaults, victimization, arrests, and abductions of opposition political actors, human rights defenders and journalists.
Of note is the arrest of award winning investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono who unearthed the US$60 million Drax scandal which involved the first family.
ZPP also recorded a crackdown on 31 July proponents among them Obert Masaraure, leader of Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) whose home was ransacked by armed men who harassed his wife.
Former Zanu PF youth leader and Front for Economic Emancipation Zimbabwe (FEEZ) leader, Godfrey Tsenengamu claimed his family was attacked in Bindura.
Zengeza West legislator and MDC Alliance chairperson Job Sikhala also claimed he was being trailed by security agents and he subsequently went into hiding.
The ZRP went on to publish a list of ‘wanted persons’ and appealed to the public to turn them in, a few days before July 31.
“The list contained names of human rights defenders and opposition political leaders. The police followed up by making statements on state media and social media platforms, claiming those on the list were wanted for inciting violence.
“On the eve of July 31, ZPP received more and more cases of human rights violations. State security agents deployed throughout the country unleashed terror on citizens going about their business. The police and the army blocked people from entering virtually all city and town centers in the country. Rural service centers were not spared, and soldiers were more present in rural areas than in urban areas.
“In addition to the numerous cases of brutality, over 60 people were arrested by the end of the day on July 31. These include award winning author Tsitsi Dangarembga, MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, student Panashe Sivindani, who went missing before being found at a police station in Bulawayo and Disability Amalgamated Community Trust (DACT) activist, Henry Chivhanga of Masvingo.”
The ZPP demanded that state brutality be stopped on citizens as state security agents have a mandate to protect citizens without discrimination and citizens must feel safe around them.
They also posed a question on “Who will protect the people when the State unleashes violence on the people it is supposed to protect? The Human Rights organization also made as appeal to the international community over the growing concern of human rights violation.
“AN APPEAL TO SADC & AU: ZPP joins the growing calls for the intervention of SADC and the AU to help ZImbabe get out of the deteriorating human rights situation”.
The deplorable state of human rights in the country has caught the attention of online social media users worldwide which have seen internationally acclaimed artists and celebrities creating awareness using the hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.
Recently, South African President and Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Cyril Ramaphosa sent a special envoy to meet the Harare administration and other stakeholders to have a face view of the state of affairs in the country.
