‘State-sponsored violence peaked in July’

THE month of July marked a peak in State-sponsored human rights violations on defenceless citizens, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) noted in its latest report released this week.

In the report, the human rights watchdog bemoaned the wave of arrests, abductions and kidnap attempts targeting journalists, opposition and rights activists particularly in the run-up to the July 31 anti-corruption protests which were quashed by security forces.

“The month of July marked the peak of State violence on its people. In that case, the question for the month of July would remain, who shall protect the people when those assigned to protect them are preying on them?” the ZPP report read.

The ZPP said it recorded 48 cases of unlawful detention, 68 cases related to assault, 168 cases of harassment and intimidation and 45 cases of abduction with the majority “of these being attributable to State security agents”.

State security agents topped the list of rights violators with a combined 80,66%, the ZPP observed.

“By the end of the month and July 31, the State’s paranoia had reached unprecedented levels and dozens had been arrested, hundreds brutalised and Zimbabwe was in a state of fear with the State security agents deployed in every part of the country, rural and urban,” the human rights watchdog noted.

Zimbabweans are facing a multi-socio-economic crisis in the face of rising COVID-19 confirmed cases when the health care delivery system is also teetering after years of under-funding and neglect.