A soldier fires shots towards demonstrators, on August 1 2018, in Harare, as protests erupted over alleged fraud in the country’s election.
Protests in Zimbabwe’s historic elections turned bloody on August 1 as a man was shot dead during demonstrations over alleged vote fraud and the president appealed for calm. The man died after soldiers fired live ammunition during opposition protests in downtown Harare, AFP reporters saw.
/ AFP PHOTO / Zinyange AUNTONY
This is the third update to the initial report on 15 August 2018. This update now covers the whole of 31 August 2018. The violations has since decreased but many victims remain in hiding fearing for their lives.
Introduction
Following a relatively peaceful 30 July 2018 plebiscite, protests broke out in Harare on 1 August 2018. Crowds besieged the entrance into Rainbow Towers Hotel where ZEC had established its command centre. Protesters demanded the release of the results of the presidential elections. As the police drove protesters from the Rainbow Towers, military vehicles were spotted by Forum monitors invading the CBD. Soldiers, clad in military attire were seen indiscriminately shooting and assaulting civilians including those who were not taking part in the protests. Seven (7) people died from gun shots and many others were injured.
The 1st of August military deployment, was followed by a crackdown of real and perceived supporters of the MDC-Alliance mostly in Harare’s density suburbs. The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) officers were the main perpetrators of violence that took place in Harare from the 1st to the 4th of August 2018. The violence spilt over to rural areas in particular Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland East and in Masvingo were reports of retributive violence on citizens perceived to have voted for the opposition or those who acted as polling agents for the opposition were reported. The main perpetrators of retributive violence in the rural ares were mainly ZANU PF supporters and traditional leaders.
This is an update to the report published by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) on the 15th of August 2018. It captures the reports documented by members of the Forum from 1 to 31 August 2018. A total of 274 violations have been documented in this period.