The province witnessed a notable decline in incidents from 31 to 22 and this could be attributed to the low levels of political party activities.
During the month under review, victims have had their rights violated at Zanu PF political party meetings and gatherings where suspected members of other parties were assaulted and made to surrender party cards and party regalia.
One MDC-T supporter was forced to renounce his political party affiliation as well as surrender his political party card and regalia at a Zanu PF meeting held at Suswe Business Centre in Mudzi West by the Zanu PF District Coordinating Committee (DCC) chairperson David Chibanda. The victim was then forced to write a letter to the Zanu PF headquarters informing them about the latest position.
The province also witnessed incidents of displacements where victims are evicted from their homes on political grounds. An MDC-T activist was forced to flee his homestead in Mutesva Village in Mudzi North Constituency by Zanu PF supporters. The victim has since sought refuge in Mozambique near the Zimbabwean Border after his goods and property was dumped at the Nyakadecha Road by the perpetrators.
The political environment is Matabeleland North Province remained calm during the month of February with only four incidents having been recorded from the 13 constituencies.
However, there is notable growing tension in the province due to the drought that has seen an increase in food aid distribution activities.
An MDC-T councillor from, Gwampa Village Lupane West Constituency was allegedly assaulted and unlawfully detained by a CID officer at Lupane Police Station. The victim had failed to produce a vehicle registration book for a car he was driving. The police officer assaulted the victim with fists before arresting him. The victim was only released after the intervention of lawyers.
About 72 mine workers were reportedly fired from Turk Mine, in Bubi Constituency after an industrial action over low pay. The manager of the mine however sought advice from Mines Minister Obert Mpofu who advised that all the workers had to be fired as they are suspected members of the MDC-T.
Known Zanu PF supporters from the area have since been employed at the mine to replace the fired 72 mine workers.
Matabeleland South Province remained very calm during the month under review with very few incidents of politically motivated human rights violations having been recorded. There were four cases in February up from the three witnessed during the month of January.
There are reports of suspicion within the Zanu PF after some war veterans were banned from attending future meetings after they were suspected of “spying” for ZAPU. One such incident was recorded on February 2, when a war veteran was verbally attacked by fellow colleagues at a meeting in Insiza North.
The victim was accused of double dealing as he was associated with the Dumiso Dabengwa led ZAPU.
Bulawayo Province’s political environment remained calm with only 3 incidents having been recorded up from the 1 witnessed during the month of January. However, the political environment has remained tense with the police relying on draconian laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) to curtail people’s right to freedom of association and movement.
A demonstration by Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) was violently disrupted by the police as they assaulted and arrested the activists for holding a demonstration in the city centre. Four suspected Zanu PF youths wearing army uniform allegedly assaulted two MDC-T activists at Luveve 5 Shopping Centre. The victims were accused of having earlier attacked the perpetrators’ workmate. The four are suspected to have come from Ntabazinduna Training Depot.
VICTIM ANALYSIS BY GENDER AND ASSOCIATION
The victim’s toll distribution for the month under review shows that more males had their rights violated than their female counterparts. There were 386 male victims up from 371 recorded during the month of January. The male victims represented 56% of the victims tally.
The month saw 234 females having their rights violated constituting 34% of the victims tally. As has been with the past trends, the bulk of the victims have been MDC-T supporters who had their rights violated more than their counterparts from the other political parties in the inclusive government that is Zanu PF and the MDC-N.
A total of 274 MDC-T supporters had their rights violated representing 47% of the victims while 65 Zanu PF supporters had their rights violated accounting for 11% of the victims tally.
The analysis also shows that 40% of the victims were of an unknown political affiliation but were caught up in the cross fire of political violence between the two main political parties of Zanu PF and the MDC-T.
There were 243 whose affiliation was unknown. Male and Female Perpetrator Analysis and Charts The perpetrators analysis by gender show that males were the chief culprits representing 89% of the violators of human rights compared to their female counterparts who constituted 8%.
During the month of February, 529 males were recorded as perpetrators, while only 49 were females. Zanu PF accounted for the highest percentage of perpetrators during the month under review accounting for 89% of people directly responsible for leading politically motivated human rights violations.
There were 526 perpetrators from Zanu PF while 33 were MDC-T activists with 28 cases having been reportedly perpetrated by state security agents accounting for only 5%. The perpetrator statistical spread still suggests that Zanu PF supporters have remained the major perpetrators across the board although the levels of violence within the MDC-T are also recorded.
Post published in: Politics