Torture, oh torture why is it so much used against my brethren?

Since I was a kid in the 80s torture in my beloved Zimbabwe has been used by the state.  I vaguely remember the likes of Lookout Masuku, the ZIPRA commander who was tortured to death by President Mugabe hard boys in the late 80s. More poignantly I recall heartbreaking sight of political and social activists limping into the court rooms scattered around the country, painfully wobbling on feet beaten in order to induce submission.

What is however, painful to me is that the state which is supposed to protect me has been behind the torture that is manifested in different forms, from physical to verbal.

Victims or rather survivors of torture speak of harrowing tales in the lice infested dungeons that the authorities call cells. (more…)

Some women consider themselves as educated, and yet, they stay in abusive relationship for a very long time.

Many times they are prevented from seeing or talking to their friends and even their parents.  Some men even claim that they have all the power and connections and nothing will be done to them. The extreme is that they would slaughter their wives in court just to instill fear.

Sometimes these men are so charming and loving and kind, but this only lasts for a very short time, and then the fights take up all the space, with the women abused verbally and threatened to be thrown out with kids.

There may well be some great times but unfortunately the bad far outweighs the good. Some of these men may have been in other relationships, and some women are gullible enough to believe him when he says he had just had ‘bad luck’ in relationships, with ALL women. (more…)

In Zimbabwe we have something called The Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration. It is a mouthful. But what does it actually do and why does it matter?

The Organ was formed under Zimbabwe’s coalition government to find a way to achieve national healing and cohesion with respect to victims of pre- and post-independence political conflicts. It followed years of conflict in Matebeleland and part of the Midlands province, and more recently, incidents of politically motivated violence throughout the Zimbabwe. So many people have been hurt and so many homes and societies broken, but nothing has been done to heal the wounds of the victims and reconcile the broken societies.

What then is this thing that people so firmly believe but seldom know how to achieve? Healing means to make whole again. It is to restore. It is about dealing with the wounds of the past, overcoming divisions and restoring our sense of identity, dignity, potential and belonging. National healing should therefore encompass all aspects that have to do with the state of our social fabric. (more…)

Everyone in Zimbabwe is afraid of the police, and the fear is well founded, especially in light of the regular arbitrary arrests of innocent people.  In Zimbabwean a person is guilty until the police feel that he is innocent, that is fact.

I live in a small community where the people are too terrified to question the police excesses which include the looting of their “illegal” merchandise.  The police take, and nobody questions them.  But there is an anger that is slowly building in the people and the case of the slain cop in Glen View is one classic case where people’s anger against the police was manifested.  But I sadly doubt that anyone in my community people is going to stand up to the police and demand respect for their rights, they are just too scared.

I recently witnessed the police fill a police truck to the brim with looted vegetables.  The vendors stood paralysed, on their faces dejection and despair was imprinted.

Though not officially a police state, in the eyes of ordinary Zimbabweans our country is held hostage by the police.   Because our citizens are so scared of the police they would rather stay in doors than socialise outside their homes, because the police can arrest them when they feel like doing so.  I would not ever stand in the way of a police officer.  Freedom only exists for me if the police allow it.

MDC activists who are currently languishing in prisons are fine examples of what the police can do.  We are not free and the police are there not to enforce the law, but to force us into walking under their own interpretation of the law.

The month of June was marked by an event that has re-energised political efforts to get the GPA back on track: the meeting of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) trade meeting, which took place in Johannesburg over the weekend of 9/10 June, also brought together the heads of the SADC in a special meeting to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis, late Sunday. Subsequent statements issued by the MDC-T suggest that they have drawn strength from the efforts of the SADC community to get the stalled process moving. However, the general state of political polarisation continues.

Of the 91 media articles recorded in this edition of ZIG Watch for June 2011, Zanu-PF continues to be the party primarily responsible for preventing the full implementation of the GPA. Violations in the form of legal harassment of perceived opposition politicians and supporters featured most prominently in the media articles logged this month, with 28 articles (30.8% of total). This was closely followed by cases of violence, intimidation, hate speech, threats, abductions and brutality with 27 articles (29.7% of the total). Cases of violations denying or abusing freedom of speech were in third place, with 11 articles (12.1% of total), while economic destabilisation, or efforts to entrench corrupt practices, came in fourth with 10 articles (11.0% of total). (more…)

While Zimbabwe joined the rest of the World in Commemorating 26 June International Day in Support of Victims of Torture not much is being done to support the most affected victims who are women.

The historical background on violence and torture against women in Zimbabwe is well documented since we attained independence.

It all started in the 80’s when the ZANU PF government embarked on the unforgettable massacre of innocent women and children in the Matebeleland region, thousands of women became victims in many forms, some were killed, others maimed,  some lost their husbands, other lost parents, some lost their children. (more…)

For Mrs. N*, a Zimbabwean woman ex-combatant who joined the liberation war at the age of 14, combat was a traumatic passage.

Like most fighters, she saw death, destruction and mutilation up close – images that have never been erased from her memory.

“I dream of dead people and experience night visions of my colleagues who died at  Mkuze  Girls Training Camp during aerial bombardments in 1977 in Zambia,” she says.

She looks haunted as she remembers what happened back then.

There was no counselling and post-war therapy in those days. Without this important care and support, she was left deeply affected. Thirty one years after Independence, the emotional scars are deep. (more…)

The former Minister of Information, “Professor” Jonathan Moyo has caused far more harm than good since his return to Zimbabwe in 2000.

The political science professor has destroyed all that many mistakenly thought he is building.  Many from both within and outside of zanu pf are wondering what his aim is.

Many remember Jonathan Moyo as the only minister in an independent Zimbabwe who managed single handedly to destroy the independent and state run media in Zimbabwe.  Under his controversial Access to Information Protection of Private Act (AIPPA), Moyo closed the only independent daily newspapers in the country.  As if that was not enough, he virtually retrenched all experienced staff at the state owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation, replacing them with college boys keen to  toe the spin doctor’s line. (more…)