PIRF February 2006

 

 

The most notable feature of these statistics is that the police were the highest perpetrator and all the violations they committed were against civic organisations while government and unidentified assailants were responsible for one each of the remaining two violations.

 

Significantly, the police remain the most potent threat to freedom of assembly and association especially against civic organisations that are considered anti-government.

 

It is also notable that there were no violations committed by political parties nor were there victims targeted for their political affiliation.

 

The attack on a journalist by unknown assailants also reveals the high levels of intolerance in society to the extent that individuals are willing and ready to attack journalists for exercising their freedom of expression through the media of their choice.

 

The government was found guilty on one incident in which Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa barred an SABC crew from attending a press briefing in Harare once again demonstrating government’s intolerance and disrespect of the role of the media in society.

 

While there was a marked decrease in reported violations against media practitioners in the period under review this should not be taken to signify an improved environment for the exercise of freedom of the media:

On February 2: SABC News reported that Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa, barred an SABC News crew from a press briefing in Harare where he discussed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to the country. The South African state broadcaster said Murerwa accused the SABC of being hostile to Zimbabwe and only recalled the SABC crew, saying only that the IMF had expressed concern about spiralling inflation, property rights and continued low production in the agriculture sector.

 

 

The violations above demonstrate government cynicism and inward looking policy towards the media while the attack on Gift Phiri provides more evidence that journalists work under extreme constraints which are not only characterised by repressive laws but also by threats of physical harm for doing what is ordinarily expected of journalists.

 

 

Violations of the right to freedom of assembly and association in the period under review once again demonstrated that government has not lost its tendency to use brute force, threats and harassment as tools of coercion to silence dissenting voices. For example;

 

On February 13: SW Radio Africa reported that police arrested 120 women and two men from the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)who had marched through Bulawayo singing and holding placards with the message “bread and roses”. The radio station quoted Sarah Chimbiri a lawyer from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) as saying those arrested were being charged under Section 24[2] of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). There was no comment from the police.

 

On February 15: SW Radio Africa reported that the police in Harare arrested more than 150 women form the women pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and charged them under The Miscellaneous Offences Act “for conduct likely to cause breach of the peace” and forced them to forced to pay admission of guilt fines of $ 25,000 each. According to the radio station, the women had intended to march to Parliament Building giving out roses and cards and calling for “affordable food and a dignified life”.
There was no comment from the police.

 

 

 

On February 23: The Zimbabwean reported that police arrested 73 NCA women who took to the streets on February 21 which is President Mugabe’s birthday. They were asked to lie down in the streets near Africa Unity Square and according to the same paper 12 were seriously injured. The paper did not have a police comment.

 

On February 23: Reuters reported that police arrested another 62 NCA demonstrators and recovered banners and flyers calling for a new constitution from the protesters as they marched towards parliament to put pressure on government to adopt a new constitution. ZimOnline (SA) of February 25 which also reported on the demonstrations quoted Alec Muchadehama, a lawyer representing the women as saying the protesters were charged under a section of the Miscellaneous Offences Act after their actions were deemed to have breached the peace and made to pay the fine of Z$250 000 each. According to Reuters the police were not immediately available for comment.

 

 

 

Zimbabwe therefore continues to violate the public’s constitutionally guaranteed rights, which are also recognised in many regional, and international legal instruments that the country is party to. For example, Section 21 (1) of the constitution of Zimbabwe states that “Except with his own consent or by way of parental discipline, no person shall be hindered in his freedom of assembly and association, that is to say, his right to assemble freely and associate with other persons and in particular to form or belong to political parties or trade unions or other associations for the protection of his interests”.

 

 

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