NCA AND Amnesty International

 “Organised police violence and torture has continued during the SADC mediation, in fact, the severity of beatings and torture has been increasing,” said Amnesty’s Simeon Mawanza who was the head of a team of researchers in Zimbabwe who have recently returned from the southern African country.

“We have collected evidence from a wide range of sources, including victims, doctors and lawyers, showing how some units – particularly the Law and Order Section – within the Zimbabwean police enjoy total impunity for human rights violations perpetrated against government critics.”

 The rights body found police continue to use “excessive force and torture” to suppress freedom of association and assembly by human rights defenders and by members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

“Police stop small demonstrations by just scores of human rights defenders. Once in police custody, human rights defenders and MDC members are severely assaulted and denied access to lawyers, food and medical care,” Mawanza said in his summary released in Johannesburg.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has been tasked by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with mediating between the MDC and veteran President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party ahead of elections due next year and has voiced optimism over the progress in talks.

“The current SADC mediation process must prioritise human rights concerns. SADC leaders should demand that the government takes immediate steps to ensure respect for human rights by the Zimbabwean police,” the report said.

 Meanwhile the National Constitutional Assembly sad is alarmed by the behaviour being demonstrated by Zimbabwe’s ruling party Zanu-PF, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change ( MDC) and the SADC mediators over the agreements on the ongoing political mediations.

 The MDC, which is an alliance partner of the NCA, has already hinted that it will agree on the draft constitution as it says it was part of the making of the dubious draft constitution.

 In the next few days Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU PF and opposition MDC will be signing a draft constitutional bill that among other things will be used in the forthcoming elections whose dates are yet to be confirmed, NCA National Spokesperson Madock Chivasa said.

 The NCA wants to clarify to the MDC and Zanu Pf that their intention to come and impose a constitution in Zimbabwe will be morally and principally denied by Zimbabweans. We will mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to resist and reject any constitution imposed on them by greedy politicians of the day, he added.

 Chivasa said NCA remain committed to a constitutional making process were all citizens can freely participate.

The NCA and the entire Zimbabwean populace will not agree on any constitution imposed on them by political parties whose only interest is to obtain political power.

 As the NCA we believe that Zimbabwe is bigger than MDC and ZANU PF and we are of the opinion that the current crisis is beyond the political impasse between these two political formations. We understand that the crisis that we are currently facing will need an all inclusive process of constitutional making, he said