The ongoing violent crackdown against opposition and human rights activists by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government shows that the 81-year-old ruler is pre-occupied with power retention.
Mnangagwa’s government claims that the mass arrests that began in June are meant to forestall violent protests by its opponents that want to disrupt the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit scheduled for Harare this month.
The crackdown began on June 16 when police arrested 78 people that were attending commemorations of the Day of the African Child at the house of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) faction leader Jameson Timba in Harare.
Police brutalised the victims with batons and this saw many of them suffering serious injuries.
They charged the victims with “gathering with intent to promote public violence and disorderly conduct."
Only two minors have been released on bail and the remaining 75 have been denied bail by the courts.
Police on June 24 arrested 44 members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, including its president Emmanuel Sitima and forced them to pay fines for “disorderly conduct”.
A week later police beat and arrested scores of people that staged a peaceful protest outside the Harare magistrate courts who were demanding the release of the people that were arrested at Timba’s house.
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On June 29, police arrested five members of the National Democratic Working Group at a house in Harare during a meeting to raise funds for poor families.
Six people were arrested on July 1 after police broke up a memorial service for a CCC activist, who was killed by suspected Zanu PF supporters in 2022.
On July 31, state security agents stormed a plane that was about to take-off at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport and seized four activists, who were held incommunicado for eight hours.
One of the activists, Robert Chere, from the Almagamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe was allegedly tortured severely and requires urgent medical attention.
Police charged the four with “disorderly conduct for allegedly participating in the June 27 protests outside the magistrates’ court".
According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, 30 people have been arrested across Zimbabwe since August 1 on charges related to protests or supporting opposition parties.
Iddriss Ali Nassah, a senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said arbitrary arrests and torture have become synonymous with Mnangawa’s rule.
“The serious violations we are witnessing, including violent attacks, abductions, torture, arbitrary arrests and other abuses against the opposition, government critics and activists are just the latest example of the failure of President Mnangagwa’s government to promote, protect and respect basic human rights,” Nassah said.
Blessing Vava, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director, said everytime Mnangagwa felt that his rule was threatened he resorted to “barbarism”.
“You know of the demonstration that happened in 2019, and the scenes that we are witnessing in our country now, which are quite disturbing, but which also show that this is a leader who is not confident in himself,” Vava said.
“You know that he assumed office through a military coup, which also was violent, though some people want to say it was a peaceful transition.”
On August 1, 2018, soldiers shot and killed six people in Harare’s central business district after protests erupted over delays in the release of presidential election results.
In January 2019, security forces were accused of abducting, torturing and raping women after several parts of Zimbabwe were rocked by protests against a steep increase in the price of fuel.
Over the years, security forces have ruthlessly crashed protests against Mnangagwa’s rule and arrested scores of activists.
Vava said Mnangagwa has used violence since the days of the coup against Mugabe and subsequent disputed elections.
“We heard that quite a number of them were killed as the coup was happening," he said.
“And the results of the elections of 2023, in which the process was condemned by many observer missions, including Sadc, which then puts Mnangagwa's legitimacy under question.”
“Mnangagwa has no legitimacy, whatsoever. He's trying to impose legitimacy on the people of Zimbabwe.
“A leader who was popularly elected does not resort to these tactics, where in the streets of Harare, in the ghettos, we have seen military vehicles as if they are going for a war in Ukraine.
“To a defenceless citizenry, it's all in a bid to intimidate and scare the people of Zimbabwe, who are going about with their daily lives.
“When you see a government and a leader that does not want people to demonstrate, it shows that the leader is afraid of something.”
Vava said the seizure of Chere, Namatai Kwekweza, Vusumuzi Moyo and Samuel Gwenzi at the airport showed that no one was safe from abductions.
“Even our airports, especially, the Robert Mugabe International Airport, have become a crime scene of abductions,” he said.
“People are being tracked, people are being intimidated, people are being abducted [and] people are being tortured.
“It's only in a dictatorship where you witness such things and it's all happening on the eve of a Sadc summit, and our leaders in the region surely should be able to rein in and tell their colleagues to adhere to democratic values and tenets.”
Nassah said Mnangagwa’s administration has committed serious human rights violations since coming into power in 2017 and has not shown any appetite to reform.
“When he came to power, Mnangagwa initially made numerous promises to deliver governance reforms to mark a departure from the abusive Robert Mugabe era, but the actions of his administration speak otherwise,” he said.
“The administration has so far failed to demonstrate a commitment to accountability, to justice, and respect for the rule of law.
“However, as it should be clear by now to everyone, Zimbabwe’s full re-engagement with the international community will depend on real change and a clear commitment to respect human rights, good governance, and the rule of law.
“For President Mnangagwa, the pathway to change course is simple: He should act with urgency to bring an end to the rampant abuses.”
Nassah urged Mnangagwa’s government to order investigations into all serious human rights abuses since he came to power and end the current crackdown.
“The authorities should prosecute those responsible for gross human rights abuses, including members of the security forces, in accordance with national law and international standards,” he said.
“The government should also take urgent steps to reform the security forces, end their involvement in partisan politics, and ensure that they act professionally and in a rights-respecting manner.”
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum also condemned the intensification of the crackdown describing it as “unacceptable”.
“The unwarranted escalation in violence and targeted attacks against well-meaning Zimbabweans raises fears that the country could slide to the 2018 and 2019 human rights violations that left 23 people dead, and thousands maimed and displaced,” the Forum said.
“Sustained attacks on civil liberties through arbitrary arrests, assaults, torture and detention of citizens in comunicado have become commonplace.”
It said the situation in Harare was becoming tense with the heavy deployment of armed police at every street corner ahead of the Sadc summit.
“The Forum reminds the government that, while it is important to maintain peace and order, the constitution provides for the freedom of association, assembly as well as freedom of speech,” it added.
“It is the right of every citizen to protest peacefully. The constitution also provides for the right to bail, as such, the government should protect and not persecute its citizens.”
The Forum said since Mnangagwa took power in 2017, the country has witnessed a rise in state-sponsored human rights violations.
“Violence, intimidation, harassment, and repression aimed principally at opposition members and civil society activists have restricted civic and political space,” it said.
“Several activists have been abducted and tortured in his six-year-old reign, which is characterised by the weaponisation of the criminal justice system against the ruling party’s political opponents.”
In a joint statement, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the authorities must immediately and unconditionally release everyone arrested for exercising their rights.
“Authorities must also promptly and effectively investigate allegations of torture or other ill-treatment of detainees and hold any suspected perpetrators accountable in fair proceedings, the groups said.
“Further, Sadc must urgently demand an end to this assault on human rights as it prepares to hand the bloc’s leadership to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.”
Khanyo Farise, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for east and southern Africa, said Zimbabwean security forces must desist from human rights violations
“Security forces have tear-gassed people in a private residence, beaten people so badly they needed hospitalisation, abducted people for hours and tortured people in custody,” Farise said.
“The authorities must stop committing such violations and immediately release all detainees.”
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the crackdown was meant to prevent the opposition from forcing Zimbabwe’s disputed 2023 election into the Sadc summit agenda.
A Sadc election observer mission led by former Zambian vice president Nevers Mumba said the elections did not meet regional standards.
The Zimbabwe election report will be tabled at the summit, but it is unlikely to be debated given that Mnangagwa is the incoming Sadc chairman.
“So, that issue can easily be front and centre if it’s raised by the opposition and civil society and the idea is to nip that process in the bud by rounding up the ‘mischief makers’, that is, those who are best placed to agitate around the issue,” Masunungure said.
“Having the integrity of the 2023 elections put on the Sadc decision-making table can be terribly humiliating for Zimbabwe, especially the president himself, which is hosting the summit, hence everything and anything is being done to sanitise and beautify the regime, including the enormous effort made to redecorate Harare.”
The Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), a local think tank, said this could be best understood within the context of a securocratic state.
ZDI said the state was prioritising regime security over citizens’ rights and demands, using “coercive state apparatus to forcefully coerce its political rivals into submission or elimination”.
“In recent years, the Zimbabwean government has systematically targeted opposition leaders, journalists, and activists using the coercive state apparatus to protect the ruling elite’s survival,” ZDI said in a report released last Friday.
“For instance, journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested in July 2020 after exposing a multimillion-dollar Covid-19-related corruption case.
“Political activist Jacob Ngarivhume was arrested in July 2020 for calling for a nationwide protest against government corruption, and opposition leader Job Sikhala spent months in prison for his political views.”
“The deployment of the army and the crackdown on dissent are indicative of a government more concerned with preserving its power than addressing the needs and aspirations of its people.”
