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REPORT: Counting the
Cost of Courage: Trauma experiences of women human rights defenders in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a nation in crisis, a crisis that has
been on going since at least the year 2000, but probably dating from 1997, with
the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar, and the exacerbation of the socio-economic
crisis.
The crisis began in the political sphere and has
spread to the economy and all aspects of social interaction, as ill-conceived
government policies have turned peoples’ lives upside down. The ability to earn
a living is drastically curtailed, basic shelter is compromised by overcrowding
or deliberate destruction of housing units by government, and schooling is no
longer available to many children. Bare physical survival is at risk through
lack of food supplies coupled with the collapse of services, including water,
sanitation and health services.
Families are divided through the migration of
breadwinners, and the whole of life has become a constant, debilitating struggle
for the vast majority of Zimbabweans.
Any attempt by political or civic groups to press
for alternative policies has been met with repression, effectively cutting off
the possibility of working towards improvements in peoples’ lives. The ruling
party has subverted all electoral processes since 2000, the legislative process,
the law enforcement, and judicial processes in favour of its own perpetual rule,
with any resistance met by force, both overt and clandestine, actual and
threatened.
Despite electoral reform brokered as part of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation process, before the
peaceful March 2008 election, a wave of violence and retribution was unleashed
on citizens even before the results were announced and continued up to, and
beyond, the one-candidate run-off on June 27.
In the context of the desperate situation since
2000, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has emerged as a leading rights group
calling for change. It is a social justice movement engaged in nonviolent civic
action to promote renewal in a politically repressive environment. They claim
that their right to freedom of expression has been stifled by unconstitutional
legislation, but they aim nevertheless to keep the voice of protest alive. The
members demonstrate in the streets and distribute fliers and newsletters calling
for government policies which honour the civil and political rights protected in
the national constitution, and the economic and social rights guaranteed under
international law. They have embraced a programme of peaceful civil disobedience
in the face of unjust laws. As is the fate of any other group mounting protests,
the women have encountered harassment, brutality and imprisonment at the hands
of state agents, who act in breach of their professional and legal
obligations.
A recent example of such treatment occurred on 28
May 2008 when 14 members were arrested in Harare during a peaceful procession.
After 48 hours in police custody they were taken to court where the magistrate
granted bail.
The state appealed against that decision to the High
Court and the group was remanded in custody for the appeal period. On 10 June,
Judge Hlatshwayo allowed 12 of the accused to be released, but refused bail for
two leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, saying it would be
‘childish’ to grant them bail prior to the presidential run-off. The state
argued that these nonviolent human rights defenders would mobilise a
Kenyan-style revolt before the 27 June election. They were eventually granted
bail after 37 days in custody. This development shows a clear increase in
repression of peace activists, which is a patent echo of the brutality that has
been meted out to members of the political opposition, Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) since March 2008.
Research on Rights
Violations experienced by WOZA
In 2007 research was carried out to determine the
nature and extent of violations perpetrated on WOZA members by state actors. It
used a questionnaire administered verbally to more than 2,000 WOZA members by
interviewers from among the WOZA membership. The major results have been
detailed in a report released recently. They showed a high level of arrests,
assaults, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, primarily by
members of various sections of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
One section of the questionnaire sought to document
traumatic experiences of WOZA women in order to understand the basis of possible
psychological and emotional disorders arising from their civic activism –
‘counting the cost of their courage’. The results of this part of the research
were not included in the main report, and are rather being presented separately
here.
It should be noted that this research was carried
out and completed before the wave of political violence following the 29 March
2008 election. The atrocities committed since April have drastically increased
the levels of trauma experience by both activists and ordinary
citizens.
Trauma experiences
Two broad categories of trauma were explored in the
research into violence against WOZA women. The first will be described as
“displacement” experiences. This concept was developed first in relation to the
psychological and emotional plight of refugees fleeing war zones. It details
events such as loss of home, failing to access food and medical care, being
lost, being caught up in fighting and similar experiences. While the subjects of
this research in Zimbabwe are not refugees in the conventional sense and have
not recently experienced war, most have suffered serious dislocation in their
lives, both materially and socially, hence it is felt that the concept of
displacement can be validly applied to them. There is, however, a sense in which
Zimbabwe is like a war, a “complex emergency” which is how experts now term
situations in which there is significant violence, severe economic decline, and
the destruction of social capital. Recent events have only intensified
displacement producing both internal and external refugees accompanied by a
full-scale humanitarian crisis.
The second source of trauma considered here is
constituted by the abuses WOZA women have suffered at the hands of state agents,
primarily the police, but historically also the army. These can be categorised
under the rubric, “organised violence and torture” (OVT). They include events of
torture per se as well as assaults, cruel inhuman and degrading treatment, and
verbal threats, insults and taunts.
While a large proportion of Zimbabweans are victims
of the displacement type of trauma events, WOZA women who are the subject of
this research have experienced OVT events as well. The section on trauma in the
questionnaire sought to quantify all those experiences. The detailed
descriptions of the kinds of trauma events reported are given in Appendices 3
and 4.
From the questionnaire it is not possible to
determine the degree of behavioural or emotional symptoms resulting from the
accumulated traumas, but the frequency of trauma reported in this study suggests
that there could well be psychological effects. There is abundant evidence from
studies of the effect of traumatic events on populations caught up in war or
civil conflict that both displacement and OVT types of trauma-inducing
experiences can lead to mental health problems, sometimes amounting to severe
psychological disorders.
Zimbabwe’s History
of Mass Trauma – 1960s to 2000s
Zimbabwe’s colonial history (1890-1980) saw
conquest, forced labour recruitment, and forced evictions from ancestral lands,
all of which constituted collective mass trauma experiences. But here the
concentration is on the past 50 years, events within the collective memory of
WOZA members.
The history of Zimbabwe over the past half-century
reveals several periods in which mass trauma has occurred:
· The Liberation War of the 1970s;
· The ‘Gukurahundi’ period of the 1980s;
· The ‘Food Riots’ of 1998;
· The violence since 2000, mainly, but not
exclusively, associated with elections in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2008;
· Operation Murambatsvina in 2005.8
In each case there were both displacement and OVT
sources of trauma, in varying proportions. During the 1970s Liberation War and
the Gukurahundi period, there are at least some of the features of war. They
were definitely present in the 1970s, where there are at least two opposing
armies and a civilian population caught in the middle.
It is to some extent the same for the Gukurahundi
period, although the violence was not national and it involved very small
numbers of opponents on the one side. Torture was a key component of violence
experienced by civilians in both the 1970s and during Gukurahundi, as they were
caught in the middle ground between opposing forces and became victims of
violence from both sides.
From 1987 onwards it is abundantly clear that no
party or group has offered a military threat to ZANU PF, or even a threat of
violence. Thus, in contrast to previous periods, the data show a wholly
one-sided pattern of violence, with state agents, government supporters, and
even militia being the major perpetrators. Their aim has been not to fight an
armed insurrection, but to quell non-violent political and civic
activity. Nevertheless, torture has remained a major component
of this violence.
Both displacement events and organised violence and
torture have been frequently experienced by Zimbabweans in all the past four
decades, although less so in the 1990s. The current period, from 2000 onwards,
is clearly a phase of epidemic torture and organised violence in a variety of
forms, as well as a period of experiences similar to the displacement of
refugees in a war situation.
The WOZA
research
The 2007 survey of WOZA members included a section
on trauma experienced pre-Independence (before 1980), post-Independence
(1980-1999), and since 2000. While the younger women were either born
post-Independence or were too young to have memories of the pre-Independence
period, women over 35 (58.8% of the respondents) could be expected to have some
recollections of each period.
The data relating to trauma was based on the Harvard
Trauma Questionnaire [HTQ]. It was altered slightly from previous uses in
Zimbabwe in order to include an historical element, so that there might be a
long-range understanding of the women’s experience of trauma throughout their
adult lives.
Interviewees were asked to indicate trauma events in
two forms: those they have experienced themselves, and those they witnessed
being experienced by others. They were asked to record these events for three
periods: pre-Independence, 1980-1999, and for each year since
1999.
A number of different measures were taken from the
data as follows:
· Total Harvard Trauma Questionnaire score: this
records the total number of all Experienced and Witnessed items, for all years
[HTQ Total];
· Total Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [Experienced]
score: the total of all Experienced items, for all years 2000 - 2007 [HTQ
Experienced];
· Total Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [Witnessed]
score: the total of all Witnessed items, all years 2000 - 2007 [HTQ Witnessed].
The items in the questionnaire were then separated
into those representing displacement and those representing organised violence
and torture, and two more measures were isolated:
· Score for Organised Violence and Torture [OVT]
items, by year [HTQ OVT];
· Score for Displacement items, by year [HTQ
Displaced].
The same measures were then taken for two historical
periods, pre-Independence and 1980-1999.
Results
The results are reported here in two sections. The
first deals with historical trauma, which covers the pre-Independence era before
1980, and the post-Independence era from 1980 to 1999. The second section deals
with the current trauma, from 2000 to 2007.
Historical trauma
Of the 1,983 women interviewed, 1,505 filled in the
historical section of the trauma questionnaire. Those who did not would have
been either too young to remember or not yet born in the early years. As
indicated above, this covered both the pre-Independence period and the
Gukurahundi era. Figures from Matabeleland were looked at separately to
ascertain the levels of trauma during Gukurahundi.
The two time periods [pre-1980 and 1980-1999] were
negatively correlated [p=-0.09], meaning that the probability of a violation in
one period is not related to the probability in the next, but there was a marked
and statistically significant increase in the number of trauma types reported in
the 1980-1999 period compared to the pre-Independence period. This shows that,
for the WOZA women, post-Independence carried greater risks than the
pre-Independence era. While the average number of trauma events experienced and
witnessed by each respondent before 1980 was 2.9, the average for the first two
decades of independence was 5.8.
Table 1: Trauma totals: pre-1980 & 1980-1999
1979 1980-1999
Mean 2.9 5.8
Standard Deviation 5.3 5.6
The difference between the two periods applied for
every measure taken of the trauma, as can be seen from the table below, and the
differences were strongly statistically significant. Considering that the 1970s
were a decade of open armed liberation struggle, this seems improbable until one
remembers that WOZA began in Bulawayo, that many of its members come from the
Matabeleland provinces, and many were affected by the Gukurahundi violations.
Table 2: Comparison of trauma types:
pre-Independence [1980] & post-Independence [1980-1999]
HTQ
[Total]
HTQ
[Experienced]
HTQ
[Witnessed]
HTQ
[OVT]
HTQ
[Displace]
Pre-Independence 2.9 1.5 1.5 0.3 0.5
Post-Independence 5.8* 2.6* 3.3* 0.4* 1.4*
*p=0.0001
When the breakdown of the types of trauma is
examined, virtually every type of trauma, deriving from both displacement and
from OVT, was reported more frequently in the post-Independence era. The
increases were very dramatic in the case of some types of trauma, especially
food deprivation and beatings.
As can be seen from Table 3, and in line with the
comments above, the Matabeleland sample reported significantly more trauma than
the Mashonaland sample for both the pre-Independence and Gukurahundi eras. This
might have been an artefact of the age structure of the two groups, since the
Matabeleland sample was slightly older than the Mashonaland sample. However, it
is essential to note that the Matabeleland sample includes a large group of
rural women who were subject to a multitude of trauma-inducing events during the
Gukurahundi violence. Even the urban women of Matabeleland have rural origins,
some of them having moved permanently to Bulawayo during Gukurahundi, hence the
abuses of that period will also be reflected in the Bulawayo data.
Table 3: Comparison of trauma between provinces:
pre-1980 & 1980-1999
Mashonaland Matabeleland
Pre-1980 [Experienced] 1.11 1.59*
Pre-1980 [Witnessed] 1.11 1.59*
Pre-1980 [OVT] 0.22 0.33*
Pre-1980 [Displaced] 0.43 0.53
1980-1999 [Experienced] 2.26 2.7*
1980-1999 [Witnessed] 2.45 3.55*
1980-1999 [OVT] 0.3 0.46*
1980-1999 [Displaced] 1.36 1.37
*p=0.001
Given the possibility that the differences might
result from a large number of older women forming the Matabeleland sample, the
effects of age were examined for the women throughout the country, by comparing
trauma witnessed and experienced pre-1980 and 1980-1999 in those under-35 and
those over-35 years.
Unsurprisingly, the older women everywhere reported
more trauma compared to the younger women, so it seems unlikely that the
differences seen between the two groups were due to age alone.
When the age difference was examined for
Matabeleland only, which was done mainly to get an idea of the trauma
experienced during the Gukurahundi years, the trends seen above remained the
same, with older women reporting more trauma generally [see Table 4
below]. It is again also evident that the frequency of
trauma increased during the two post-Independence decades, and this was due to
the increase in trauma events that would be associated with the Gukurahundi,
such as deprivation of food, imprisonment, rape, severe beatings, and torture
[see Appendix 2].13
Table 4: Comparison of trauma [Matabeleland only]:
under 35 & over 35 years
Under 35 yrs Over 35 yrs
Pre-1980 [Experienced] 0.51 1.95*
Pre-1980 [Witnessed] 0.53 1.95*
Pre-1980 [OVT] 0.12 0.41*
Pre-1980 [Displaced] 0.17 0.66*
1980-1999 [Experienced] 2.19 2.87*
1980-1999 [Witnessed] 3.02 3.73**
1980-1999 [OVT] 0.22 0.55*
1980-1999 [Displaced] 1.41 1.36
*p=0.0001; **p=0.01
The major conclusion to be drawn from the historical
data is that experience of trauma existed in terms of both displacement and
organised violence and torture. The post-Independence years were more traumatic
than the pre-Independence decades, with older women reporting more experience of
trauma countrywide, and women in Matabeleland reporting significantly higher
levels of trauma than those elsewhere.
Trauma (2000-2007)
The sample here was larger, with a total of 1,972;
11 people either did not experience any trauma or the interviewer omitted to
fill in the relevant section.
Overall, a high number of trauma events were
reported on average, with enormous variation over the sample, and some persons
reporting as many as 30 trauma items over the past eight years. The number of
events experienced, both of a displacement nature and of OVT, was calculated for
each respondent, and an average of the totals worked out. This produced the
results in the table below, with an average of 8.8 trauma events experienced,
and 7.9 witnessed. And it must be remembered that this can only indicate the
types of events for each year, not the number of similar events. For example, if
a person recorded beating in the year 2002, but was beaten three times that
year, this has not been captured, and it will only show up as a single trauma
event.
Table 5: Trauma Questionnaire scores [means &
standard deviation]
There is also a steady increase in the number of
trauma items reported over the years, as can be seen from the figure
below.
Figure 1
Comparison of trauma
scores: 2000 to 2007
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year Mean
score
HTQTot
EXPTot
WITTot
OVT
Displacement
Trauma scale Number [n=1972]
No. of trauma events Experienced 8.8 [6.4]
No. of trauma events Witnessed 7.9 [10.4]
Total no. of trauma events 16.7 [13.9]
There are number of observations to be made here.
Firstly, there are clear increases for the election
years 2000 and 2002, and dips prior and subsequent to these years. However,
there is a very steady and marked increase in the number of trauma events
reported from 2005 onwards. This corresponds more or less exactly to the data
reported by Zimbabwean human rights groups, such as the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum. All reports from Zimbabwe human rights groups show the same trends:
human rights violations (and hence trauma) increase during elections, and all
violations have been increasing since 2005, which saw the beginning of
Murambatsvina, the effects of which continue to be felt. In common with the
Human Rights Forum, the WOZA sample reports 2007 as the worst year since 2000.
However, since this data was collected, it is evident from the reports of the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum that the violence has worsened significantly in
2008, and, in particular, the violence since the March 2008 election has been
extreme.
Table 6: Trauma scores by year 2000-2007
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
HTQ [Total] 1.1 0.7 2.1 1.4 1.4 2.7 3.3 4.01
HTQ [Experienced] 0.6 0.4 1.1 0.8 0.8 1.4 1.8 2.1
HTQ [Witnessed] 0.5 0.4 1 0.6 0.64 1.3 1.4 1.96
HTQ [OVT] 0.1 0.03 0.11 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.4
HTQ [Displace] 0.4 0.3 0.7 0.5 0.54 0.97 1.04 1.3
Secondly, looking at the table above, it can be seen
that the average frequency for Experienced items exceeds that for Witnessed
items. Although this is not statistically significant, interestingly this is the
case for every single year since 2000. This seems counter-intuitive – that
people should experience more trauma than they witness – but it must be
remembered that the WOZA women are activists, and have been engaged in
protesting the terrible conditions that they and their families have been
experiencing since 2003. Given the repressive attitudes of the state and state
agents to dissent and disagreement, it is predictable that the actions of the
WOZA women would lead to them directly facing possible trauma, and the data
bears this out.
Thirdly, Displacement items are more frequent than
OVT items for all years. The comment here is that the Displacement score does
not only reflect actual displacement but also the increasing economic hardship
faced by these women. Lack of food, lack of shelter – especially after Operation
Murambatsvina – and lack of access to medical care have become common features
of Zimbabwean life in the last few years, and particularly for working and
sub-working class families, which are the social groups from which WOZA draws
the major portion of its membership.
There was also a significant correlation between the
total number of human rights violations reported and the number of trauma events
Experienced [0.37; p=0.005]. The actual violations reported by the sample
correlated strongly with the measure of OVT from the HTQ [imprisonment, rape,
kidnapping, severe beatings, torture, and sexual abuse] but not at all with the
measure of Displacement. This is perhaps unremarkable and to be expected, but it
does give considerable confidence in the data that different measures of the
same events correlate strongly.
Average number of
trauma events reported between 2000 & 2007: comparison between Mashonaland
& Matabeleland
It was observed under the section on historical
trauma that the sample from Matabeleland consistently reported greater numbers
of trauma events both pre- and post-Independence, and, to some extent, this
observation still applies for the period since 2000. However, as can be seen
from the figure above, this pattern only holds until 2007, when the Mashonaland
sample reports markedly more trauma events than the Matabeleland sample. This
finding accords with the reports of human rights groups that 2007 has been the
worst year since 2000 for human rights violations, the majority of which have
been reported in the northern half of the country. It is also evident that the
general trend for violations to increase during election years is seen for both
groups.
One of the reasons for studying trauma experiences
is to be in a position to determine the psychological effects and devise
appropriate treatment if it is required. This research did not directly measure
psychological disorder, but used an indirect measure, the overall score on the
HTQ of the last year, 2007.
Research carried out in
Zimbabwe, by ActionAid, in the aftermath of Murambatsvina indicated that
psychological disorder among a random sample of victims, as measured by a
psychological screening instrument, the SRQ-8,19 correlated with scores on the
HTQ of 3 or more.
Using this as a measure on the
HTQ in the present study, it was found that 1,051 [53%] women in the sample had
scores on the HTQ of 3 or more, and hence indicative of psychological disorder.
This is not as high as that found in the ActionAid survey, where 69% of the
sample drawn from Bulawayo, Harare, and Mutare were suffering from psychological
disorder, but is nonetheless much higher than estimates from the general
population.
Effects of Trauma
Research into the effects of trauma experiences in
many other countries has shown that they frequently result in psychological
disturbance and disorder. Many studies demonstrate high rates of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder [PTSD] and other disorders as a consequence of OVT. For example,
a multi-country study of the relationship between life events, such as torture,
and PTSD showed very high rates of PTSD in all four countries surveyed: the
prevalence rate of assessed PTSD was 37% in Algeria, 28% in Cambodia, 16% in
Ethiopia, and 18% in Gaza. Conflict-related trauma after age 12 years was the
only risk factor for PTSD that was present in all four samples, whilst torture
was a risk factor in all samples except Cambodia. A longitudinal study of
Bosnian refugees showed similar high rates of disorder.
As noted previously, this survey did not directly
measure the degree or nature of psychological disturbance resulting from trauma
among the WOZA women.
This awaits further research.
Nevertheless, considering the level of trauma recorded and the psychological
effects observed in victims in other situations, it could be expected that such
effects would be discovered if an attempt to document them was made.
Furthermore, trauma research suggests that repeated exposure to trauma has a
cumulative effect, making the victim more likely to suffer from a psychological
disorder. Zimbabwean women, with their history of repeated trauma through recent
history are then candidates for clinical psychological symptoms resulting from
repeated trauma of various types.
WOZA women have received very little counselling to
help them deal with their trauma. Some group healing sessions with professional
counsellors were organised, but remarkably, the women seemed more concerned to
discuss their ‘displacement’ issues than their experiences of OVT, which they
said they expected in any case and they had recovered from. Of course, this does
not mean that they do not have any trauma-related disorders, but they themselves
do not perceive them, and their observed behaviour does not indicate them
either. It is interesting to speculate on the reasons for this, in the absence
of any scientific data.
Possibly the torture episodes were not as serious as
those inflicted on some other activists. WOZA women have been threatened with
dire consequences of their actions, but none have been subjected to prolonged
physical or even mental torture such as electric shocks or lengthy detention.
Most have been released from police custody within a few days of arrest.
However, the threat and possibility of such harsh treatment is always present,
and many women struggle to overcome fear in order to participate in actions.
Another possible explanation for the lack of trauma
symptoms could be the preparedness of the women for mistreatment. There is some
indication from other studies that an individual’s or a community’s response to
trauma, and the psychological damage it produces, is strongly influenced by the
person’s mental preparedness.
One study from Zimbabwe is Richard Werbner’s Tears
of the Dead. Werbner is an anthropologist, not a psychologist, but his study of
a community in rural Matabeleland showed a marked difference between the way
people responded to organized violence and torture during the liberation war and
during Gukurahundi. During the war they knew what they were fighting for, and
there appeared to be a meaning for sacrifices and suffering; but during
Gukurahundi, the violence seemed to target virtually everyone and the reason for
it was not at all clear.
The trauma experienced in the 1980s was much more
damaging to individuals and to the community than that experienced during the
70s. Studies from other parts of the world seem to draw similar conclusions.
It is also a fact that WOZA women are specifically
prepared to expect violence, and are trained on how to
respond.
Thus, they know that when they demonstrate in the
streets they are likely to be arrested and may well be beaten and tortured. They
never know exactly what to expect, but they go into action in a state of mental
preparedness.
They understand why they are carrying out their
actions and are committed to the ideals for which they take a stand. If there
are arrests and/or injuries, there is always a back-up team that goes into
action to bring lawyers, food, medicines, to arrange for medical examination and
treatment, and to give the emotional support that might be needed at the time.
In police custody the women support each other. If it appears that only one is
being arrested, others will hand themselves in as a solidarity gesture. Thus a
network of caring and support sustains and builds the strength of the women as a
group. Furthermore, after each action, de-briefings are
held. Those in the action meet to review what happened, success and failures,
including their feelings about their action. Were they proud of themselves, were
they very afraid, how did they get through it? What could be done differently
next time? Mistakes are analysed. These processes may well have an “immunising”
effect for the WOZA women.
Evidence from studies in Bosnia suggests that
experience of torture may produce feelings of hatred and desire for revenge, all
of which can retard healing. WOZA women learn to treat the police officers that
mistreat them as human beings who also have feelings. They take it as a
challenge to try to win respect from the police officers, and to help them to
also understand the reasons for their protests. For example, on one Valentine’s
Day, a police officer in charge of detaining over a hundred women was happy to
receive a WOZA red rose to give to his wife.
Others, especially female officers, whisper support
for the women and encourage them to continue to be brave.
All of this, which creates an understanding and a
belief that the suffering is worthwhile, has made WOZA women strong and prepared
and thus probably less likely to suffer the normal consequences of torture and
mistreatment.
No one could claim that no WOZA women have feelings
of hatred for and desire to revenge against their tormentors, but the group
ethos and solidarity helps to reduce this. It is probable that the network of
understanding, support and preparedness created by WOZA among its membership
enables them to cope more effectively psychologically with the kinds of
treatment that they have experienced.
Conclusions
Collective trauma usually occurs among civilian
populations caught up in war and civil disturbance. Currently these conditions
are referred to as complex emergencies. Zimbabwe has clearly experienced a
number of complex emergencies over the past few decades, and certainly both the
Liberation War of the 1970s and the Gukurahundi of the 1980s would conform to
the definition of a complex emergency. It can be debated whether the period
since 2000 would be classified as a complex emergency, as there were no obvious
signs of war, but it is indisputable that there has been severe economic
disruption, destruction of social capital, and widespread human rights
violations, with significant violence, although not large numbers of deaths.
However the escalation of levels of violence, torture, deliberate maiming and
physical elimination of political opponents since March 2008 has brought
Zimbabwe to a state of virtual undeclared war and a political and humanitarian
emergency of complex proportions.
As is the case in most complex emergencies, women
and their families are generally the most common victims, and Zimbabwe is no
exception. Many women of all ages have been brutalised, raped, tortured, and
even killed for their political activities and of those of their male family
members. As children are normally in the presence of their mothers, they been
equally victimised. Most often such victims demonstrate psychological effects of
their experience and witnessing of traumatic events.
The women of WOZA, like most Zimbabweans, are
victims of displacement types of trauma events. These were experienced as far
back as the 1970s by some WOZA members, but have accelerated over the
post-Independence years. Some of the women also experienced OVT trauma-inducing
events after 2000 before WOZA was formed in 2003. Since then, they have for five
years attempted to bring the attention of the state and the international
community to the parlous position in which Zimbabwean women have found
themselves. Their protests have not met with the concern of the state, but have
rather been met with repression and gross human rights violations.
These are additional events of the sort that would
normally induce further trauma. It is for this reason that WOZA has sought to
systematically document their treatment.
From the analysis of the responses to the research
questionnaire, the following conclusions have been able to be drawn:
· The members of WOZA have experienced trauma over
all the past three decades, as well as before Independence in 1980.
· The kinds of trauma are not confined to those most
documented by human rights groups, and include a whole range of events that
reflect the destruction of the social fabric of society. These have been
classified as displacement type events and organised violence and torture (OVT).
· The frequency of trauma of all kinds has been
steadily increasing.
An average of 2.9 events per
respondent for the pre-Independence period doubled to 5.8 in the two
post-Independence decades, and then tripled to 16.7 in the period 2000 to
2007.
· A number of differences between different time
periods and places emerged. Women from Matabeleland reported higher rates of
trauma in all three decades and it was evident that Gukurahundi had significant
effects during the 1980s.
· While specific measures of the consequences of the
trauma for these women could not be made, it was estimated that over 50% of the
sample are at risk of developing significant psychological disorders. The
effects may not be experienced immediately – there is little time for the women
to focus on their inner worlds with all the many problems they solve daily – but
it is probable that the sequential trauma they have suffered will in the future
affect them more directly.
· It is also probable that the psychological effects
of their trauma may well be lessened due to their understanding of the reason
for their suffering and their preparedness to make a sacrifice for the future of
their families and their nation. Their commitment and dedication to a cause that
they believe in makes them stronger than the person who becomes a victim of
random violence without any understanding. Scientific evidence of this
assumption relating to WOZA women awaits further systematic research.
The level of deliberate displacement and OVT in
Zimbabwe suggests a large number of perpetrators of these abuses. But very
little attention has been given to the effect of OVT in particular on these
perpetrators of violence. This is not surprising for a variety of reasons, but
experience world-wide shows that the perpetrators themselves frequently develop
psychological disturbances as a result of the guilt and shame that they feel.
Anecdotal information describes soldiers who
perpetrated massacres and torture during Gukurahundi seeking out their victims’
families in order, in the traditional parlance to “cleanse” themselves, thus
curing distressing symptoms of psychological disorders. When considering the
need to deal with Zimbabweans’ traumatic experiences of the past 40 years, it
will be necessary not to forget the need for healing of the perpetrators as well
as the victims.
It would appear that this trend has not continued
through 2008 in view of election violence in rural areas across the country.
The state has a responsibility to protect, as was
pointed out by the UN Special Envoy in 2005,33 and the Zimbabwean state has not
only failed to protect but also rather inflicted harm on citizens exercising
their constitutional rights. It has turned young men and women into torturers
who themselves may become tormented. At what point will a Zimbabwean government
confront the legacy of trauma and look to begin a healing process? This must be
an important consideration in determining what form of authority emerges from
the current SADC mediation process.
Recommendations
Trauma resulting from displacement can only be
rectified over the medium to long term by a government that cares for its
citizen’s socio-economic needs.
In regard to organized violence
and torture, we feel that there are specific recommendations that need to be
made to deal with the consequences and ensure that it stops and does not start
again.
The ZANU PF government, in common with some other
African governments, has seemed oblivious to the destructive impact of
widespread use of violence as a political tool of control and repression. While
it may have achieved its immediate goal of stifling dissent for some years, it
has surely had seriously deleterious long-term effects on both the victims and
the perpetrators.
However this research on WOZA
women was not intended to show long-term effects of traumatic experiences
because the time lapse was too short.
In order to deal with the problem of the prevalence
of OVT as a common feature of our society, we recommend the following:
· Stop the political violence; disband militia camps
in all areas of the country. Any political violence must be reported,
investigated and prosecuted through the courts without any form of favour or
political influence.
· Intensive research should be undertaken into the
effects of OVT on Zimbabweans, both as victims and as perpetrators.
· A centre be established within Zimbabwe to carry
out research, training and treatment related to victims and perpetrators of
violence.
· A needs assessment be conducted regarding what
treatment is needed to heal both victims and perpetrators.
· Research should be conducted and disseminated on
the most effective ways for non-violent protestors to prepare themselves to
lessen the traumatic effects of torture and other forms of violence.
· All government law enforcement agents be trained
specifically on their international responsibilities regarding OVT and be
required to make specific commitments not to follow orders which require them to
contravene this commitment; an international rescue programme could be
established to assist any who lose employment as a result of adhering to this
commitment.
· All members of the government, defence forces and
party institutions who are identified as perpetrators be required to appear
before a forum where they admit their crimes; the more senior officers
identified as giving orders should be prosecuted.
· Joint sessions of victims and perpetrators should
be held to aid the healing process on both sides.
· Government should immediately lift the current ban
on organisations providing humanitarian assistance and also allow a United
Nations team to address the humanitarian crisis and widespread hunger without
political interference.
· A transitional authority should form a body to
consult and develop a transitional justice plan of action designed to bring
healing and reconciliation and then deal with justice and restitution for
victims in the new Zimbabwe.
The type of evil that has become an integral part of
government behaviour in Zimbabwe must be eradicated and the mindset of power
hunger and disrespect for other human beings overcome. It can only happen
through the actions of a government with a strong will to correct wrongs and
ensure that the rights of all Zimbabweans be respected. We therefore believe
that the most appropriate government to replace the current illegitimate
incumbent would be a non-political transitional authority whose members have as
a priority transitional process of healing, transforming and
rebuilding. Such an authority will have the capacity and
neutrality necessary to dismantle the structures of violence and
oppression.
Nonetheless, whatever format the new political
dispensation in Zimbabwe takes, it will need to embark on an official programme
of acknowledgement of injustices. Economic recovery and democratic reform,
whilst imperative, can only go so far in restoring the dignity of people. We
believe that for dignity to be fully restored a new administration needs to
assist individual survivors to rebuild their broken lives whilst ensuring that
‘liveable peace’ is achieved. It is the only way Zimbabweans can bury the ghosts
of their past and move forward into a more secure future.
Appendix 1:
Comparison of Experienced and Witnessed Trauma:
pre-1980 & 1980-1999.
1979 1979 1980-1999 1980-1999
Experienced Witnessed Experienced Witnessed
Food (lack of) 14% 4% 66% 21%
Medical (inaccessible) 9% 6% 24% 17%
Shelter (lack of) 6% 5% 12% 16%
Prison 3% 6% 5% 12%
Injury 6% 11% 7% 24%
Combat 9% 6% 11% 13%
Rape 2% 7% 2% 2%
Isolated 1% 3% 2% 5%
Close to death 9% 6% 12% 17%
Separation 6% 5% 5% 10%
Kidnapped 3% 7% 3% 15%
Beating 10% 13% 13% 28%
Torture 11% 9% 15% 19%
Scary situation 17% 7% 26% 16%
Property destruction 11% 7% 11% 16%
Sexual abuse 2% 5% 3% 7%
Dependency 11% 5% 25% 11%
Appendix 2:
Comparison of pre-Independence and post-Independence
trauma for Matabeleland sample only.
1979 1979 1980-1999 1980-1999
Experienced Witnessed Experienced Witnessed
Food (lack of) 17% 6% 64% 24%
Medical (inaccessible) 10% 7% 23% 20%
Shelter (lack of) 6% 6% 13% 17%
Prison 2% 6% 4% 12%
Injury 7% 15% 8% 26%
Combat 9% 6% 9% 13%
Rape 3% 10% 3% 12%
Isolated 1% 3% 2% 5%
Close to death 11% 7% 16% 19%
Separation 8% 6% 6% 11%
Kidnapped 3% 10% 4% 20%
Beating 14% 17% 17% 33%
Torture 13% 11% 17% 22%
Scary situation 22% 8% 31% 19%
Property destruction 15% 9% 14% 18%
Sexual abuse 3% 6% 5% 8%
Dependency 12% 7% 23% 11%
Appendix 3:
Experienced items by year [2000 to 2007]: percentage
reporting each item.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Food 23.5 17.2 50.4 30.5 30.4 48.1 46.6 59.5
Medical 6.5 6.3 8.9 10.1 12.6 17.5 27.3 26.7
Shelter 2.5 1.9 3.1 2.6 4.4 12.4 7.9 7.9
Prison 1.1 1.02 2.5 3.5 3.9 10.1 24.2 14.6
Injury 0.9 0.4 2.3 1.6 1.3 2.4 4.2 3.6
Combat 3.5 1.4 7.01 4.5 3.4 5.9 9.8 11.3
Rape 0 0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.3
Isolated 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.9 0.44 0.7 1.9 1.7
Close to death 1.1 0.5 3.1 1.7 0.7 1.9 3.3 3.4
Separation 0.3 0.1 0.5 0.22 0.5 0.4 0.5 1.6
Kidnapped 0.5 0.2 0.8 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.7 1.3
Beating 1.3 0.2 2.6 1.5 1.4 4.01 7.7 5.6
Torture 3.6 1.2 5.1 3.9 2.9 5.9 13.4 14.1
Scary situation 3.9 2.1 10.1 4.2 3.8 7.4 9.8 16.4
Property destruction 1.2 0.4 2.1 1.3 1.2 5.9 2.2 1.5
Sexual abuse 0.22 0.5 0 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.5
Dependency 2.9 1.9 6.7 6.1 5.7 13.2 19.9 30.6
Appendix 4:
Witnessed items by year [2000 to 2007]: percentage
reporting each item.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Food 9.6 7.9 18.5 10.3 10.9 18.8 15.03 19.2
Medical 4.7 5.2 6.5 7.7 9.9 15.1 19.4 18.4
Shelter 4.6 3.2 5.03 5.2 8.8 26.9 15.1 15.9
Prison 1.7 1.6 4.1 3.5 3.4 7.7 12.6 14.6
Injury 3.4 2.1 6.8 3.9 3.2 6.3 10.7 13.5
Combat 2.5 1.2 5.1 2.1 2.1 4.4 6.8 10
Rape 1.1 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.7 1.02 1.4 1.1
Isolated 0.6 0.5 1.2 1.2 1.3 2.2 3.7 7.1
Close to death 1.8 1.3 5.5 2.1 1.6 2.8 6.6 8.2
Separation 1.9 1.6 5.1 2.1 2.8 2.7 3.8 6.9
Kidnapped 1.4 0.6 2.8 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.9 5.3
Beating 4.3 3.1 9.8 4.7 3.1 6.9 11.3 15.7
Torture 4.01 2.3 7.4 4.2 3.3 5.8 7.9 11.1
Scary situation 2.7 1.4 4.3 2.2 1.7 3.9 4.7 8.9
Property destruction 1.5 0.8 2.03 1.4 1.7 10.8 4.3
4.8
Dependency 1.4 1.2 2.8 2.6 2.4 5.7 7.3 10.3 –
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