The Standard 8 June 2014

Local News
The Standard June 8 to 14 2014 7
Female prisoners’ dignity restored
BY OUR STAFF
Police abuse
us: Sex workers
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
SEX workers in Bulawayo have accused police
officers of physical and verbal abuse
upon arrest.
Speaking at an Abammeli Lawyers for
Human Rights workshop in the city on
Friday, sex workers accused the police of
insulting them and asking for sexual favours,
as well as forcing them to do various
chores at the police station while in
custody.
“Some members of the police usually
ask for sex whilst holding us in the cells.
If we refuse to sleep with them they verbally
attack us by calling us names such as
whores or prostitutes,” said a sex worker
who only identified herself as Maziat.
The Constitution states that any arrested
person must be treated humanely with
respect for their inherent dignity.
Another participant, identified as Karen,
said they were made to clean police
holding cells and other infrastructure at
the police stations where they would be
held.
The programmes coordinator of Abammeli,
Tineyi Mukwewa said the actions of
the police were not in tandem with the Bill
of Rights, especially the provisions that
speak about the right to human dignity.
“Sex workers have rights and the police
need to treat them as humanely as possible.
They should not be degraded by any
person or authority,” said Mukwewa.
The act of selling or buying sex is not
criminalised in Zimbabwe but the police
have a tendency of carrying out various
sting operations against women patronising
bars and night clubs as well as those walking
the streets at night accusing them of contravening
Section 8 of the Criminal Law (Codification
and Reform Law) Act, Chapter 9:23
(loitering for the purpose of prostitution).
LAST week’s landmark Supreme
Court ruling compelling authorities
to allow female prisoners to
keep their undergarments upon incarceration
will help restore some dignity
to women inmates whose rights were being
violated by being denied basic necessities.
The ruling was a result of efforts by the
pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(Woza) since 2011.
While detained at Harare Central remand
prison, some female members of
Woza came face-to-face with the grim reality
of prison life which they later described
as inhumane and degrading.
Not only were they stripped of their undergarments,
but they were also made to
walk on top of human excreta as there were
no ablution facilities for them to use.
“We ended up smuggling in plastic papers
that we used as shoes because people
were just doing their toilet business everywhere
because there were no toilets,” said
Jenni Williams, co-director of Woza.
The experience haunted the women long
after they had left the prison cells.
“It was horrible. All of us were crammed
in a single cell which was not only filthy, but
had a hole overflowing with faecal matter.
People ended up just squatting and relieving
themselves anywhere in the room,” she said.
What was most degrading was that all of
them did not have any undergarments, including
those who were menstruating.
Horrified by the conditions, Woza leaders
petitioned the court through the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) demanding
that government ensure that the
holding cells met basic hygienic conditions.
“The flushing toilets should be cordoned
off from the main cell to ensure privacy.
The holding cells at Harare Central Police
Station should be cleaned daily with soap
and detergents, and a good standard of hygiene
should be maintained in the police
holding cells,” reads the application.
Following the rulings authorities are now
required to provide clean water, mattresses,
blankets and toilet paper to detainees at Harare
Central prison. The women are also to
keep their undergarments, a move which
will restore one’s dignity.
“We are pleased with the ruling because
we did it for the ordinary woman on the
streets and justice has been served,” said
Williams.
She however said the only challenge was
that women now needed to stand up and
point out to the police that there is now a
provision that protects them.
Zimbabwean women, like most women in
developing countries, are largely docile and
because of societal expectations and limited
access to resources, will not speak out or
stand up to authority, especially men.
Countrywide the situation is basically
the same and in 2005 Supreme Court Chief
Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ruled that police
cells at Matapi and Highlands police
stations were “degrading and inhumane
and unfit for holding criminal suspects.”
Because of their biological nature, women
are hardest hit when they are placed under
conditions that do not have basic hygienic
necessities including sanitary wear.
There have been several calls for the government
to supply female prisoners with sanitary
wear which is currently a scarce commodity
at prisons and yet the market is flooded with
cheaper versions which cost no more than a
dollar.
Last year a report released by Research
and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and Zimbabwe
Women Lawyers’ Association revealed that
female prisoners continued to recycle sanitary
wear and slept on dirty, lice-infested
For the past 22 years, the Zimbabwe Women
Lawyers Association has always noted with
disturbing concern that there is violence and the
abuse of the rights of women and children within the
“sects” of the “Vapostori” church. Whilst the
allegations would for the most years go unreported
and have in most circumstances seemed hard to
investigate from the position of an NGO, it is
disturbing to note that indeed the allegations are true.
The allegations of violence and abuse of women and
children's rights having been there for decades where
confirmed by recent events which saw “more than six
riot police officers, journalists and members of the
Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ)
seriously injured after rowdy members of an apostolic
sect attacked them with knobkerries and stones in
Harare's Budiriro suburb” as reported by The Herald
of 3 June 2014. The reported incident is said to have
happened after “ACCZ executive president
Archbishop Johannes Ndanga announced that the
church led by Madzibaba Ishemael Mufani had been
banned from operating in Zimbabwe because it was
violating the country's laws and that of Christianity by
denying over 400 children of school going age access
to education, severe abuse of church congregants
and their families or relatives”. It is now further
reported that the members of the apostolic sect
arrested have no identity documents which also
means that their children might not have identity
documents.
It is important for every Zimbabwean to know that
there is no church or religion above the provisions of
the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The Constitution
shuns any violence against all Zimbabwean citizens
including women stating in section 52 that every
person has the right to freedom from all forms of
violence both in public and private sectors. Further, all
the rights in the Constitution are also children's rights
as such children have a right to education regardless
Defending Women Defending Rights
With support from
Jenni Williams
linen stained with blood and urine.
There are also reports that the prisoners
use old newspapers or tissues as sanitary
wear, a situation which can expose them to
infections of the womb.
ON VIOLENCE AND THE ABUSE
OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN WITHIN
THE “VAPOSTORI SECT” ZWLA'S PRESS STATEMENT
of the religious inclinations of their parents, they have
the right to human dignity, to personal security and to
privacy which includes the right not to have their
bodies abused by testing their virginity. Children have
the right not to be married or given into marriage,
forcefully or willingly until they are 18 years of age.
The Constitution particularly protects children in
section 81 stating that children have the right to be
provided a birth certificate, to be protected from
maltreatment and abuse, to health, shelter and
nutrition. The Constitution by giving children the right
to family and parental care mandates the parent to
ensure that every child enjoys his/her Constitutional
rights. If the parent is incapable of protecting the child
or is responsible for the abuse of the child's right on
the basis of religion or otherwise, the parent is guilty
of violating the child's right and must be investigated
This will ensure that prosecutions are done because
the child is entitled to adequate protection by the
Courts in particular the High Court which is the upper
guardian of the child. ZWLA therefore recommends
the following:
The state should take its role of protecting
the rights of women and children and
initiate an investigation of various actions of
religious sects with the view to prosecuting
those who are abusing women and
children's rights
We also urge the public to appreciate the
gravity of the offences which might be
detrimental to the development of the girl
child and subsequent development of the
nation.
We also call upon all heads of Christian
denominations to ensure that doctrines in
their various denominations are subject to
the rule of law and the provisions of the
Constitution.
For 24 hour response to Gender Based Violence, call ZWLA hotlines on 0782 900 900 and 0776 736 873