THE MDC AND THE CITIZENS ARE PERTURBED BY THE DEAFENING SILENCE OF INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONS AS ABDUCTIONS: TORTURE, PERSECUTIONS AND RAMPANT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS CONTINUE TO ESCALATE AGAINST DEFENSELESS CIVILIANS.
Since the MDC, on behalf of the people, gave notice to demonstrate on 16 August 2019, against the hardships experienced by the people of Zimbabwe, the country has been engulfed by increasing abductions, torture, and persecutions of opposition and civil society. The people’s crime is raising voices of concerns against life threatening induced hardships
Sequel to the MDC notice to demonstrate, the ZHRC, and the NPRC issued statements acknowledging and ascertaining the democratic rights of the people to ‘peacefully demonstrate against the hardships’. Both institutions strongly urged the demonstrators, as well as the state representatives who were making violence fermenting statements against the peaceful demonstrations to desist from violating the process.
True to its values, the MDC, and the people, have remained peaceful even in the wake of state’s systematic violent denying people of their right to demonstrate. To this day, the nation continues to witness daily increases in the number of abductions, torture, and persecutions. Yet the independent commissions for Human Rights and for Peace have gone mum-and-dumb!
The MDC and the people of Zimbabwe are surprised, and worried by the conspicuous silence by the country’s independent institutions for peace against these continued gross Human Rights violations; abductions and torture.
The constitutional mandates of these commissions are clearly spelt under chapter 12 of the supreme law of the land, including the protection, and defending citizens against violation of their rights, and to support and entrench rights and democracy, protect the sovereignty and interests of the people and promote constitutionalism as provided at relevant Sections of the constitution of Zimbabwe, under chapter 12.
Statements such as by the ZHRC Chairperson, Commissioner that they could not comment on the on-going abductions because they are still carrying out investigations are a cause for concern. One of the key roles of these commissions is to promote, protect, enforce and prevent. You don’t promote, protect, enforce and prevent retrogressively. Watching and witnessing the abductions, and then issuing condemning statements are not helpful. The mandate to intervene in the process is there. You have already issued statements on the onset of process not to violet. Now violating is taking place within the same observations you made in the first place, why reserve your mandate.
We are not saying that the interventions by independent peace commissions are the total sum for panacea to stop the obviously, and habitual sponsored Human rights violations, but the efforts for timely constitutional mandated interventions are critical for both current deterrence, and posterity reference. All the independent Commissions; ZHRC: NPRC: Zimbabwe Gender Commission: and the Zimbabwe Media Commission should pile concerted efforts to compel the state to stop these abductions; torture, persecutions and many other violations.
Commissions need to justify their existence, by living up to their constitutional mandates, without fear or favour. We cannot keep the oxen and then span ourselves to plough.
Hon Blessing Chebundo
MDC National Secretary for Healing, Peace and Reconciliation.
