Amnesty International says Zimbabwe’s forthcoming general elections will be held amid a five-year systematic brutal crackdown on human rights, restrictions on political opposition gatherings, violent suppression of protests and criminalization of state critics.
In a statement, Amnesty International said over the past five years, the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly have been relentlessly suppressed.
Amnesty International noted that there is a sustained crackdown against those who have demanded accountability from the government or organized protests against allegations of corruption, journalists and members of the political opposition and human rights activists.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, said Amnesty International, has criminalized dissent by passing the dreaded Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill, commonly known as the ‘Patriotic Bill’ into law
Amnesty International said what has been happening in Zimbabwe over the past five years amounts to a brutal crackdown on human rights, especially the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, adding that respect for socio-economic rights has also declined dramatically, leaving many people in abject poverty with no means to put food on the table.
It said the Zimbabwean authorities have revealed their brazen contempt for basic freedoms and shown that there is no space for dissent in the so-called ‘second republic’.
The police, according to Amnesty international, have also repeatedly resorted to excessive use of force to suppress human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly.
It said as political campaigning intensifies in Zimbabwe ahead of the August 23 elections, the authorities must ensure that people are able to freely exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
“Authorities must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of everyone before, during and after the election.”
Reacting to the report, Nhlanhla Moses Ncube, secretary general of Freedom Alliance, said Mnangagwa’s government is abusing the law to crackdown on dissent.
“‘The Patriotic Act’ is the punctuation of the prolonged systematic targeting of anyone opposed to, or perceived to be opposed to ZANU PF misrule since 1980 all the way to 2017 and beyond, when the so-called New Dispensation usurped power through a military coup. It boggles the mind to note that no protests or demonstrations can take place in Zimbabwe despite the economic decay and poverty. The reason is that potential protestors have been cowed to submission by ZANU PF. Laws like the Patriotic Act (passed by the ZANU PF majority in parliament) are the silent tool to replace physical violence. Dissent is heavily criminalized so that ZANU PF hangs on to power by whatever means.”
Efforts to get a comment from ZANU PF spokesperson, Chris Mutsvangwa, were unsuccessful as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.
Jacob Ngarivhume, leader of the opposition Transform Zimbabwe, was recently jailed for four years for calling on locals to join a protest against state corruption while Job Sikhala, a senior official of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change, has been in remand prison for more than a year for allegedly inciting violence. He has been denied bail several times.