Zimbabwe under siege: A Canadian civil
society perspective
Zimbabwe Reference Group
September
2004
http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000928/index.php
Executive summary
In late May
and early June 2004, representatives from the Zimbabwe Reference Group (ZimRef),
a coalition of Canadian civil society organisations, went to South Africa and
Zimbabwe with two objectives in mind:
- To demonstrate solidarity and strengthen support for
Zimbabwean and South African civil society groups in the context of the current
crisis in Zimbabwe; and
- To learn how Canadian civil society can effectively
influence policy makers in Canada, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The main findings of the mission can be
summarized as follows:
- Zimbabweans are experiencing a widespread human
right crisis. The police, military, prosecution and judiciary - the traditional
pillars of the rule of law - have increasingly become partisan instruments of
the state. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) reflect a legislated crackdown
on public demonstrations, independent media and most forms of civil interaction.
- Most recently, the Zimbabwean government has
proposed an NGO Bill that will give them the authority to ban foreign funding to
NGOs. The government's motivation to fast track this Bill into law before the
March 2005 parliamentary elections demonstrates its clear resolve to neutralise
or shut down the operations of selective local and international NGOs.
- The Church currently constitutes one of the last
democratic spaces in Zimbabwe. However, through a mix of severe intimidation and
patronage tactics, it is evident that President Mugabe actively seeks to
neutralise church voices critical of him.
- On the labour front, the last four years have been
exceptionally difficult, with increased government intolerance for dissent,
legislated attacks on worker's rights, a violent crackdown on labour activities,
and routine harassment and intimidation of labour leaders.
- In spite of the relatively good rains and harvest in
2004, the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 2.4 million Zimbabweans are
in need of emergency food aid. Despite this, the government has expelled the WFP
from operating in Zimbabwe, threatening millions of Zimbabweans with starvation
and leaving the government in full control of the country's available grain. In
the lead up to the March 2005 parliamentary election, all indications are that
the politicisation of food distribution by the government will intensify.
- HIV/AIDS statistics are horrific. 2.3 million
Zimbabweans are presently infected with HIV/AIDS. 4,500 people die on a weekly
basis, compared to 3,850 a year ago. The total number of orphans has topped the
one million mark. Life expectancy has been reduced to 35 years, from 58 in 1995.
The continuing cycle of HIV/AIDS and poverty places particular burden on women
and children as social and family norms give way and coping strategies become
more desperate.
- The crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in an estimated
3 million people (25-30% of the population) leaving the country over the past 4
years - with the overwhelming majority leaving for South Africa, Botswana and
England. The plight of Zimbabweans in South Africa is grim. In a climate of
xenophobia, many refugees are victims of harassment, extortion, and police
brutality. The vast majority are unable to gain formal asylum seeker or refugee
status.
- The March 2005 parliamentary election campaign has
started and the necessary elements for a "free and fair" pre-election period are
clearly not in place. Short of an immediate halt in the continued crackdown on
the media, the judiciary and the opposition during this pre-election period, it
is a foregone conclusion that the electoral environment will be worse than in
the 2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections, which were both deemed
not free and fair by the international community.
- At the Summit of Heads of State and Government, held
in Mauritius in August 2004, SADC adopted the Principles and Guidelines
Governing Democratic Elections. Zimbabwe's election processes and electoral
climate must be assessed against those new Principles and Guidelines.
- The delegation was deeply dismayed to see that there
is little safe space left in Zimbabwe in which individuals or groups can freely
and peacefully disagree or express an alternate vision about politics, social
concerns or any other issue. Popular targets of the government are the media,
lawyers, the judiciary, the labour movement and churches. Zimbabweans
and civil society are under siege.