APPENDIX 4
Memorandum from AMANI Trust (Mashonaland
Programme)
1. The AMANI Trust is a Zimbabwean non-governmental
organisation, formed in 1993, and has worked with survivors of
organised violence since that time. The Trust runs two programmes;
the Mashonaland Programme and the Matabeleland Programme, with
offices in Harare and Bulawayo respectively. The Trust is affiliated
to the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
(IRCT), as well as being a member of the Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition,
the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, and the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network. The Trust has produced a large number of reports
on organised violence and torture over the years, and is internationally
well respected as an authority on organised violence and torture.
2. The Mashonaland Programme of the AMANI
Trust has seen a very large number of victims of gross human rights
violations since February 2000. Most of these violations conform
to the definition of torture contained in the UN Convention Against
Torture. It has submitted independent reports on torture together
with the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
(IRCT). It has also contributed to the reports being issued by
the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.
3. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has
made frequent representation to the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth
Secretariat, the Commonwealth Ministers Action Group and the Abuja
Foreign Ministers Group. It has submitted a number of reports
with at least two of these reports dealing specifically with the
Abuja Agreement (see Annex 1). The Forum has pointed out that
the Zimbabwe Government has failed to implement key aspects of
the Abuja Agreement and has also breached the Harare Declaration.
4. The way in which the 9-11 March Zimbabwe
Presidential Election was conducted, 2002, has been severely criticised
by many observer groups, both Zimbabwean and international. The
Commonwealth Observer Group was one of the groups issuing an adverse
report on the election, and this report lead to the suspension
of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth for 12 months. It is not entirely
clear from this decision what the way forward will be for Zimbabwe
to return to the Commonwealth fold, nor have all the implications
of this flawed election been fully digested.
5. This submission covers the period of
the Presidential Election and the post-election period, and is
informed by a comprehensive report shortly to be submitted to
the Commonwealth Secretariat. The AMANI Trust look a very active
role in monitoring this election, providing, together with the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, a rapid response team for legal
and medical problems. The findings of the AMANI Trust are detailed
below, and, as will be seen, add further evidence to the conclusions
of other observer groups that the election was substantially flawed.
The AMANI Trust has continued to monitor the human rights situation
in the post-election period, issuing frequent reports on the human
rights violations that continue to occur. It is evident that there
is no improvement in the human rights climate of Zimbabwe, and
indeed the evidence indicates a further deterioration. This submission
is based upon a more comprehensive report that will be available
in the immediate future.
6. As regards the electoral arrangements
and the conduct of the Presidential Election, the AMANI Trust
noted a large number of irregularities and impediments to fair
conduct of the election:
— militarising the Election Supervisory
Commission;
— drawing election supervisors and
monitors from the Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs and Education;
— disenfranchising voters through the
voter registration process;
— disenfranchising persons who have
renounced Zimbabwean citizenship;
— interfering with Voter Education;
— "correcting" the voters'
roll;
— printing of extra ballot papers;
— disallowing postal voting;
— constituency based voting;
— simultaneous holding of municipal
and Presidential elections;
— greatly increasing the number of
mobile polling stations;
— drastically reducing the number of
polling stations in urban areas, greatly increasing the number
of polling stations in rural areas;
— preventing the accompanying of ballot
boxes;
— limiting Foreign observers;
— limiting Local observers;
— registration of voters beyond 3 March
2002;
— confiscation and destruction of identity
cards;
— allegations that the voters' roll
is highly inaccurate.
7. During the election itself, a significant
number of incidents of organised violence and torture were reported.
Major targets for the violence were polling agents of the MDC
and local observers. The police arrested a number of members of
these groups. There were no reported instances of violence against
Zanu-PF polling agents or of arrests of such persons. Furthermore,
there were an exceedingly high number of arrests during the polling
days, with the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum having recorded
at least 1,400 persons in custody for purported election offences.
There were allegations that there were no reasonable grounds for
many of these arrests.
8. The violence reported during the Presidential
Election was substantially higher than that reported during the
polling days of the 2000 General Election or the subsequent bye-elections.
A total of 26 persons came into the AMANI offices to report incidents
of organised violence or torture perpetrated against them during
the polling days, all of whom needed medical treatment. There
are confirmatory medical reports of the injuries sustained by
these people. A number of additional reports of violence were
made by telephone or in written reports. AMANI was unable to cross-check
these additional reports. The overall total number of incidents
of violence reported to AMANI was about 134 cases. This exceeds
considerably the number of such cases reported to AMANI during
the polling days of the 2000 General Election or the bye-elections.
9. The persons responsible for these human
rights violations belong to the groups previously identified as
the major perpetrators in Zimbabwe's current violence: militia,
youth militia, Zanu-PF supporters, police, the CIO, and the army.
10. The organised violence and torture has
persisted after the Presidential Election and, to date, is being
recorded at levels higher than in the pre-election period. There
is a campaign of retribution being carried out against MDC supporters,
and it is significant that this violence was threatened prior
to the election. The AMANI Trust has recorded many statements
from victims of the pre-election violence in which their perpetrators
stated quite openly that those who vote for the MDC could expect
retribution for their actions. The nature of this violence, as
well as the partisan distribution of food relief, makes the current
violence akin to "political cleansing". A total of 64
cases, confimed by medical reports, have been received by the
AMANI Trust in the post-election period. A total of 181 cases
were reported overall. In AMANI's periodic reports covering the
post-election period, it noted a small number of reports of MDC
political violence against Zanu-PF supporters. These reports were
not made to AMANI but were reported in the press.
11. Again, the persons responsible for these
human rights violations belong to the groups previously identified
as the major perpetrators in Zimbabwe's current violence: militia,
youth militia, Zanu-PF supporters, police, the CIO, and the army.
12. The AMANI Trust thus supports the conclusions
of other observer groups that this Presidential Election was seriously
defective, and cannot be seen as meeting minimum standards for
the holding of elections. When the outcome of both elections is
taken together—the 2000 General Election and the Presidential
Election—the legitimacy of the Zanu-PF is seriously in doubt,
and until such time as proper legal determination on the elections
through the Zimbabwean courts is complete, the Zanu-PF government
and the executive can only be considered to be de facto
and not de jure.
13. The AMANI Trust accordingly makes a
number of recommendations:
— the international community should
carry out independent, impartial investigations into human rights
violations and should work with Zimbabwean civil society in such
investigations;
— government, regional and international
action is needed to reform the Zimbabwe Republic Police in order
to promote the accountability and effectiveness of the police
and to ensure that it carries out its duties in a non-partisan
manner;
— government, regional and international
action is needed to promote the Zimbabwe judiciary's independence
and effectiveness;
— the Zimbabwean government should
review legislation or repeal or amend those laws that are unconstitutional
or violate human rights;
— the Zimbabwean government should
ratify the Convention Against Torture with alacrity.
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