The MDC’s statement to mark the International Human

The people have been resilient as they have endured torture, violence, intimidation, hunger, poverty and a myriad of other problems all brought about by a regime whose insatiable appetite for power, greed, and corruption have brought the country down to its knees and reduced Zimbabweans from all walks of life to destitutes. Currently, people cannot even access their own money from banks and they have to queue for days on end only to get paltry sums like $5 000 000-00 which is not enough to buy a bottle of cooking oil.

Instead of the government acknowledging its mistakes and accepting where it has gone wrong, it feeds the people on a daily diet of propaganda and blames everyone else ranging from the opposition, civil society, the western countries and imaginary sanctions as the cause of the problems facing Zimbabwe instead of its own mismanagement, maladministration and inability to govern properly.

The time has come for this regime to put a stop to its madness and treat the people of Zimbabwe as human beings who are entitled enjoy all the basic human rights set out in the various United Nations Declarations and African statutes. It is no use to pay lip service to these lofty ideals and make all the right pronouncements on paper but in practice do the opposite of what they preach.

To start with, the government must accept that we need a people driven democratic constitution which contains a comprehensive bill of rights which encompasses not only civil and political rights but also covers economic, social and cultural rights. This can only come about through a process where the people of Zimbabwe themselves are given an opportunity to participate freely in the constitution making process which ensures that their aspirations are freely captured and reflected in the final document.

We also need a new culture whereby those in authority are fully accountable to the people and this can only happen when we have a government that is elected through free and fair elections. It is also important that those in positions of authority recognize that political power is attained through the will of the people and that no one has a god given right to rule forever simply because they participated in the liberation struggle.

It is necessary that the culture of impunity where violators of human rights have gone scot free should come to an end if we are to fully enjoy our universal rights. As we speak the perpetrators of gross rights violations during the Gukurahundi era have not been brought to book and the Chihambakwe Commission which was appointed by the government produced a report which has not been published up to this day. The late Mark Chavhunduka and Roy Choto were savagely tortured and assaulted by army personnel and the then Minister of Defence, the Late Movern Mahachi, had the temerity to say that they had scratched themselves and up to this day, no investigations have been carried out to identify and bring the perpetrators to account.

On the 11th March 2007, the president of the Movement for Democratic Change Morgan Tsvangirai and several others were arrested and beaten up by Police Officers in a Police Station, denied access to their Legal Practitioners, denied food and medical attention in violation of their rights and in defiance of High Court orders and again, nothing has been done about it. Further, Movement for Democratic Change activists arrested on trumped up charges went through hell at the hands of the Police and still the regime has no shame in protecting these gross violators of human rights.

The list is endless and on a regular basis various state agencies and party militias have all gone on a spree and orgy of violence and mayhem in the full knowledge that nothing will happen to them as the government is clearly behind them.

The irony of it all is that it is happening at a time when ZANU (PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change are engaged in dialogue which is meant to usher in a new era where the political environment returns to normal but by its actions it is clear that the ZANU (PF) government is not sincere. One would have expected to see some tangible evidence on the ground to show that the regime is truly committed to change its ways but sadly all that it is interested in is to maintain and tighten its grip on power.

We therefore challenge the government to stop this blame game where all the country’s ills are said to be the result of non existent “illegal” sanctions and it should instead fully commit itself to a recognition and respect of human rights. The establishment of a Human Rights Commission on its own does not have any meaning unless it is accompanied by a genuine commitment on the part of the ZANU (PF) regime to mend its ways so that Zimbabwe can once again proudly take its place in the community of civilized nations.

 

Hon Innocent Gonese, MP
The MDC’s statement to mark the International HumanSecretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs