By NewZimbabwe.com
THE Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has revealed, in its latest report, that villagers in some of the country’s far-flung areas are living in constant fear of exercising their rights, with one saying they could be killed for doing so.
Most of the 2,175 victims recorded in its September report were at the hands of the ruling Zanu PF which accounted for 52.52% of perpetrators in the 180 documented cases.
A significant portion of the figure were villagers, denied food aid by well-knit Zanu PF units across Zimbabwe’s rural areas.
“Fear and over-politicisation of government programmes severely undermine the enjoyment of freedoms and hinder community development. When citizens live in fear of persecution, arrest or retribution they are reluctant to exercise their fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, assembly and association,” reads the report.
“In Buhera a victim who had suffered from continuous exclusion from food aid based on political bias was asked if she had made any formal complaints about her predicament to the relevant authorities and she expressed a deep sense of fear.”
ZPP documents human rights violations monthly, with Zanu PF, and the ZRP being usual perpetrators.
“Iii zvinotyisa zvekuti unenge uchifunga kuti manje ndikataura ndonozogara sei munzvimbo mevaridzi nekuti dzimwe nguva vanhu vanotofa (I fear that if I say something, how will I live in their area because sometimes people die),” a Buhera victim is quoted in the report as having said.
Zimbabwe has struggled to address its worsening human rights record even after a 2017 coup promised change in the manner of governance and tolerance for dissenting voices.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his lieutenants have been sanctioned by America and other Western countries for their roles in politically motivated violence, corruption and failure to address similar matters.
Adds the report: “The ZPP’s latest findings paint a concerning picture of persisting human rights violations across Zimbabwe.
“The reported harassment and intimidation, extortion, abuse of power and political discrimination underscore the undesirable human rights situation in the country.”
