Less violence and torture…

BY STAFF REPORTER

HARARE

Despite nearly 1,800 incidents of violence and torture since November last year, The Southern African Centre for Survivors of Torture (SACST) has revealed the figure was less than in the run-up to previous elections.

According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project, around 1,775 incidents of political violence were recorded by their monitors but, according to the SACST, this was actually a decrease, which suggested violence was not being employed as a tactic in the same way as before. Nevertheless, SACST urged the media to take note that reports of violence and torture continue to be received.

In the 2000, 2002 and 2005 elections, the organisation said there had been overwhelming empirical evidence that levels of organised violence and torture, primarily sponsored by state agents, had increased significantly during the run-up to voting. Levels of violence between elections had also remained unacceptably high.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO (non-governmental organisation) Forum reported that more than 600 incidents of torture were recorded in Zimbabwe during 2007. This was corroborated by the SACST’s report, Victims of organised violence and torture in Zimbabwe attending refugee reception offices in South Africa: prevalence and associated features. Since 2001, the Forum recorded more than 30,000 individual violations. Real numbers, though, were likely to be much higher, given that the NGOs recording them were under-resourced.

The SACST’s report stated: “This situation has directly contributed to a massive internal displacement within Zimbabwe, as well as an unprecedented exodus of its citizens to South Africa and elsewhere. This, in turn, has resulted in the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who no longer have an opportunity to exercise their right to vote in these upcoming elections.

“As seen elsewhere, organised violence and torture in Zimbabwe has been utilised as a political weapon designed to manipulate election outcomes in favour of incumbent political powers.”

An end to impunity

SACST reminded observers and commentators of the Zimbabwean situation that analysing conditions for free and fair elections required a broader and more long-term perspective on electoral conditions and the factors influencing them, and could not be reduced to events on polling day.

In this context, they said, organised violence and torture had played a powerful role in transforming the political playing field in Zimbabwe, as well as elsewhere. The impact of prior experiences had not been addressed and had not dissipated.

“Beyond this election, it is evident that there can be no stable and prosperous future in Zimbabwe without meaningful efforts to firstly eradicate ongoing incidents of organised violence and torture,” said the report, “and secondly to address the impact and repercussions of organised violence and torture, through the provision of services to victims and survivors (including an opportunity to have their stories heard without fear of repercussion), and to employ processes that ensure those responsible for these violations are held to account.”

SACST is an NGO based in Johannesburg dedicated to the promotion and provision of medical, psychosocial and legal services to victims and survivors of organised violence and torture. The SACST flagship project, the Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project (ZTVP), was established in 2005 to provide assistance to torture victims and survivors fleeing deteriorating and abusive conditions in Zimbabwe.