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Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
Torture By State Agents In Zimbabwe
3 The failure by the police to investigate crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping which were committed by
supporters of the ruling party and the war veterans during the period preceding the general elections.
4 The attacks on the freedom of the press, which constitute a very grave situation and undermine the basic
rights of all citizens to have access to information about the nation. These attacks have been made together
with the blatant use of hate speech and racist rhetoric by a large number of Government ministers, Zanu PF
officials and war veterans which are contrary to the laws of this country. The President and the Government
have a constitutional duty to ensure that plurality of views is protected.
We thus call upon the Government to take immediate steps to redress these situations and to institute
investigations under the law of all parties who are in breach of the laws as indicated above.
As regards violence, we note the following:
1 A very large number of human rights violations have occurred. Torture, cruel and inhuman and degrading
treatment continue to be practised on a wide scale and the concerns of the Human Rights Forum expressed
in earlier reports seem to have little effect upon the Government and the police. War veterans, members of
Zanu PF and its supporters seem to believe that they have the right to infringe on other people’s rights
without being held responsible or accountable at law. This seems to have been bolstered by the formal
impunity contained in the clemency order.
2 The Zimbabwe Republic Police displayed indifference to the plight of the victims during the violence and in
following up on charges pressed by the victims. This indifference must be strongly condemned.
We repeat our calls for immediate investigations and prosecutions of all persons, irrespective of rank or
political party affiliation. We condemn the clemency order and maintain our demand for the setting up of an
independent judicial commission to investigate both pre and post-election violence.
TORTURE DURING 2001
Although there were periods during 2001 when organised violence and torture declined in relation to
previous years, it was apparent that organised violence and torture did increase in association with the
various parliamentary by-elections that took place. However, there was an absolute increase in
organised violence and torture from the middle of the year as the campaign for the Presidential election
took off in earnest. As the violence generally increased, so did the number of cases in which members of
the police, the CIO and the army were alleged to be the primary perpetrators. This caused the Human
Rights Forum to re-examine the evidence it had accumulated from past years. It found that the police,
the CIO and the army had been implicated in violence to a far greater extent than it had realised. 8 As
commented in the Annual Report of the Legal Unit for 2001:
After a decent stock-take, it is clear that despite our recommendations for the years 1999 and 2000, there has
not been any serious attempt by the government to restore the rule of law. Certain individuals still behaved as
if they were above the law. We demand a restoration of the rule of law.
In this respect, we reiterate our concern over the failure by the government to ensure that the police carry out
their duties in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Police Act. During the year, the failure by the
8 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2001), Who was responsible? Alleged perpetrators and their crimes
during the 2000 Parliamentary Election Period, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM.
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