Zimbabwe government abusing critics, say rights groups
ZIMBABWEAN opposition official Godfrey Kurauone sang a protest song at the funeral of a party member in July. For that, and other political charges, he spent 42 days in jail.
The prosecution then dropped one charge and acquitted him on one of blocking traffic.
Hopewell Chin’ono, an investigative journalist who used his Twitter account to expose alleged government corruption, was held in the notorious Chikurubi maximum security prison for nearly six weeks before being granted bail on charges of inciting violence for tweeting his support for an anti-government protest.
Author and film-maker Tsitsi Dangarembga spent a night in detention for standing by a Harare road and holding up a placard that said “We Want Better. Reform Our Institutions”.
All face court cases for publicly challenging the government. Those who speak out against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government are finding themselves in trouble. Some have been abducted and tortured, according to human rights groups.
Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economy and reports of alleged corruption involving the procurement of Covid-19 protective equipment and drugs have stoked peoples’ anger at a government that promised reform and prosperity when it took power in 2017.
It appears the government is using restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus to suppress political criticism, say human rights defenders.
“While the government lockdown has been extended indefinitely, human rights violations have steadily increased, suggesting that the government is using Covid-19 as a cover for violating fundamental freedoms and attacking perceived opponents,” said ZimRights and the International Federation for Human Rights.
Opposition officials, human rights groups and some analysts accuse Mnangagwa of abusing the rights of critics. Mnangagwa and his officials deny the charges, saying they are justified in taking measures against people who are seeking to illegally overthrow the government.
Dozens of people – including lawyers, journalists, nurses, doctors, opposition MPs and rights activists – have been arrested and charged with violating lockdown rules or for protesting on the streets and on social media.
ZimRights says it has recorded 820 human rights violations such as arbitrary arrests, assaults by state agents, attacks on journalists, abductions and dog bites between the end of March and August 9. It’s not even safe to criticise the president in bars, on public transport or on social media, it said.
“We are seeing an increasingly worrying trend where authorities are abusing the law to persecute people perceived to hold views different to those of the establishment,” said Kumbirai Mafunda, the spokesperson for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which is providing lawyers to many of those arrested in the crackdown. Authorities “are using pre-trial detention as a form of punishment”.
Government critics have faced insulting verbal attacks. Catholic bishops were branded “evil” by the information minister, while the president challenged them to form their own party after they issued a pastoral letter accusing the government of political and economic mismanagement.