Amnesty International has dropped a heavy research document titled: Zimbabwe Open For Business, Closed For Dissent/Ideas.
The introduction reads:
There was renewed hope for change when Emmerson Mnangagwa was ushered in following a military takeover in November 2017 and subsequently, elected as President in August 2018. This hope has been dashed in recent months, with the human rights situation in the country deteriorating further, especially since the government’s brutal crackdown in January 2019 after a national stay-away action in protest to what many people considered to be massive fuel hikes.
The authorities’ response to protests including lethal and excessive use of force, mass arbitrary arrests, torture and arbitrary restrictions on access to internet to suppress protests and the continued impunity for possible crimes committed by security forces including torture as well as rape has demonstrated deep rooted
intolerance to dissenting views.
The Zimbabwean government has obligations to respect, promote and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly as guaranteed under international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)1 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
2. Domestically, Section 58(1) of the Constitution states that “every
person has a right to freedom of assembly, and the right not to assemble or associate with others”.
3. Section 59 further guarantees everyone the right to demonstrate and present petitions. Zimbabwe is not a party to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) which prohibits torture in all cases, but section 53 of its constitution prohibits torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Despite these clear obligations, Amnesty International has documented gross human rights violations committed in the context of the government crackdown on protests in January.
This briefing analyses events and the context, and documents key human rights concerns in months prior to, during and following the national stay-away protests which started on 14 January 2019 and ended on 16 January 2019. The findings are based on interviews with witnesses, victims, victims’ families, human rights
defenders and activists, journalists, lawyers and Zimbabwean non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as desk-based research.
1. BACKGROUND
Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated as President on 26 August 2018, following a highly contested election in which opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC) petitioned the outcome of the July 30, 2018 poll.5 On 24 August, the Constitutional Court declared that MDC had failed to prove allegations
of fraud and declared Mnangagwa the duly elected winner.
6. Political tensions between MDC and Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)
heightened following the poll and on 1 August, protests erupted in the capital Harare over delays in releasing
election results.
7 Authorities deployed armed police and military personnel to stop the protests. Armed police
and military personnel used live ammunition and beat up protestors, using batons, boots and sjamboks
8. leaving six people dead and 35 others badly injured.
9 On 2 August, international election observers released a statement in which they denounced the excessive use of force to quell protests and urged the police and
army to exercise restraint.
10. In the euphoria that followed his ascension to power as president in 2017, President Mnangagwa promised a
new Zimbabwe in which everyone was “free to campaign, speak their mind and to express themselves however they choose.”
11 He further implored his supporters to “Let the people see a new face of our party through our good deeds, language and positive energy as we inspire them towards a better tomorrow, towards the Zimbabwe they want.”
12 But despite these lofty promises, Zimbabweans have witnessed a rise in human rights violations and the 1 August 2018 excessive and deadly response to protests was a precursor of worse things to come.
The recent human rights violations observed in the context of the January protests are rooted in Zimbabwe’s
protracted economic problems which have grown critical in recent times. Zimbabwe appears to have reached unsustainable levels of debt.
On 22 November 2018, the Minister of Finance and Economic
Development, Mthuli Ncube said the public debt statutory limit of 70 percent was likely to be breached by the end of 2018.
13. As of August 2018, Zimbabwe’s debt stock stood at 17.6 Billion with over USD 8 billion of this owed to external creditors.
14. Local analysis explains that low levels of production and productivity across
5 On 10 August, Nelson Chamisa filed a petition before the Constitutional Court to challenge the election that gave Mnangagwa 50.8 percent and Chamisa 44.3 of the election result, citing fraud and electoral malpractice
6 Constitutional Court
7 Widely reported across domestic and international news media
8 A Sjambok is a long stiff whip usually made of animal hide
9 Amnesty International documented the events and issued a statement condemning the violence on 1 August 2018
Zimbabwe: Investigate the army’s conduct in post-election killings
10 Joint Statement by International election observation missions to Zimbabwe’s harmonised election 30 July, signed by the African Union,
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), SADC, Parliamentary Forum, Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries, The Commonwealth Observer Group, European Mission Election Observation Mission, Zimbabwe, 2018, Carter Centre, National Democratic
Institute.
11. Address to the ZANU-PF Central Committee in Harare on 8, June 2018 as reported by the News Day,
https://www.newsday.co.zw/2018/06/lets-break-from-the-past-mnangagwa/
12 Ibid
13 He said this when he delivered his 2019 Budget Statement in Parliament on 22 November 2018
14 Budget Statement by Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mthuli Ncube, delivered to Parliament on 22 November 2018.
(USD9, 544.2 Billion in domestic debt and 8, 141.6 in external debt) Many analysts that we spoke to point to the government’s opaque borrowing practice. Amnesty International cannot confirm if the government’s debt acquisition was conducted in a transparent and
participatory way as required by the country’s own procedures and in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Foreign Debt and Human Rights. In terms of the Guidelines, whose aim is not to supplant but supplement the provisions of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights….