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The last four years have seen a relentless clampdown on all those who are perceived as opposing the ruling party, ZANU-PF. State repression has relied on key new pieces of legislation that give the state almost unlimited powers against its own people. It is two years since the most draconian act in Zimbabwe’s 24-year history was passed into law - the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Since it was passed in January 2002, POSA has been used weekly to silence democratic voices, and hundreds have been arrested in terms of its clauses. With a general election constitutionally bound to take place within the next year, it is essential to review the state of democracy in Zimbabwe at this time, and to identify those aspects that will rule out from the onset the possibility of any election being free and fair. It is clear that the POSA is a powerful, anti-democratic weapon that has been and will continue to be used against alternative voices in Zimbabwe.

POSA rules out almost every democratic activity, including the rights to freedom of speech, opinion and association.

This report is the first since the passing of POSA to attempt to pull together available information on arrests of civilians over a one-year period, from February 2003 to January 2004, in order to draw out trends in arrests and the specific use of POSA by the police. Approximately 1,200 arrests from around Zimbabwe are analysed here in terms of: what charges if any were laid; outcome, if any, of cases; abuses by authorities at time of arrest.