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Mounting Political Tensions and Arrests in February and March

In the past few months, the state has intensified its efforts to violently suppress dissenting views or opinions, and ordinary citizens have been caught up in the violence, with scores subjected to brutal beatings and arrest by the police and other state agents because they are perceived or actual supporters of the opposition. The volatile high-density neighborhoods of Harare’s southern suburbs—traditionally viewed as opposition MDC strongholds—have seen the largest number of government abuses.

The government’s most recent clampdown on all forms of political activism or protest has led to numerous incidents of violence. Hundreds of opposition members and supporters and civil society activists have been arrested, abducted, and tortured while scores have gone into hiding. The clampdown has also left behind a trail of injured ordinary Zimbabweans. The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) reports that in the past two months, it has witnessed an increase in the number of persons seeking treatment for injuries reportedly sustained from assault and torture inflicted during the course of arrest, during raids on the victim’s homes, and while in police custody. Since the aborted prayer meeting on March 11, (described later in this report) the organization documented 49 hospitalizations and more than 175 lesser medical treatments resulting from politically motivated assaults by security forces.¹² The doctors also recorded six gunshot wounds—one of them fatal—in the past two months. In the course of the recent political unrest, several police officers have also been injured.¹³

The latest round of arbitrary arrests and detentions of opposition members and supporters, and civil society activists spiked in February and March 2007, with the Zimbabwean authorities arresting several hundred civil society activists and opposition officials and supporters around the country. Those arrested were often released without charge or made to pay fines under the Miscellaneous Offences Act (MOA). Others have been charged with breaching various sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.¹⁴  

The months of February and March saw an increase in the number of protests and demonstrations by civil society activists against deteriorating political and economic conditions in the country. At the same time, the two factions of the MDC decided to launch their election campaigns by holding several rallies around the country. As in previous government crackdowns, it seems the opposition members and supporters, and civil society activists were arrested because of their dissenting views or for trying to exercise their right to peaceful protest.

In the month of February alone, Human Rights Watch received credible information concerning the arrest of at least 400 civil society activists and opposition supporters around the country.¹⁵ They include 11 student leaders arrested at Harare Polytechnic as they attempted to hold a consultative meeting; about 200 activists from the women’s rights organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) arrested during peaceful protests in Bulawayo and Harare; 75 activists from the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)—a nongovernmental organization that has actively campaigned for constitutional reform—arrested in Harare and Mutare; 46 opposition supporters arrested in Gweru; and 64 opposition supporters arrested in Harare.¹⁶ 

Human Rights Watch documented 11 cases of arbitrary arrest of opposition supporters and civil society activists, and received credible information of hundreds more arrests in the cities of Harare, Mutare, Bulawayo, and Masvingo in the days following the aborted March 11 prayer meeting.¹⁷ 

On February 17 and 18 the two factions of the MDC attempted to hold political rallies launching their election campaigns for 2008. Despite a high court ruling permitting the rally in Harare, armed riot police violently disrupted the meeting by firing tear gas at the gathered opposition members and supporters, and then arrested 64 opposition members and supporters. Ten opposition members and supporters were also arrested in Bulawayo.¹⁸  

On February 21, police imposed a three-month ban on political rallies and demonstrations in Harare under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).¹⁹ In fact, the ban seemed to be in effect across the country—not just in Harare—with hundreds throughout Zimbabwe arrested for holding rallies or demonstrations. Police authorities argued that the rallies would lead to a breakdown in law and order and to political violence in Harare.²⁰ 

The opposition challenged the police ban in the high court,²¹ and together with civil society activists vowed to hold demonstrations in defiance of the ban, leading to a spate of arrests and detentions, and minor skirmishes between the opposition and security forces in the high-density suburbs. One MDC supporter described the tense atmosphere in some of the suburbs after the ban took effect: “The police are imposing a curfew in Budiriro from 8pm up to the next day. It started when they issued a ban on rallies and gathering. They started beating anyone seen after dark. Now they are coming at our locations beating us, throwing tear gas and firing live ammunition.”²²

On March 24, police partially lifted the ban in some parts of the city, but kept the ban in place in Harare South until April 21, Harare Suburban District until April 24, and Chitungwiza, and Harare Central districts until April 25. Harare South includes some of the suburbs which have been most affected by the recent violence including Glenview, Highfield, Warren Park, and Kuwadzana.²³ 

Human Rights Watch has previously expressed concern about the use of POSA, which enables the government of Zimbabwe to undermine the right to freedom of assembly by prohibiting or restricting legitimate protests.²⁴ The ban on rallies breaches the right to freedom of assembly protected by international and regional human rights law, and the rights to freedom of expression and association.²⁵

The March 11 Crackdown

The political unrest reached a high point on March 11, when police violently prevented a prayer meeting organized by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign—a broad coalition of church and civil society organizations—and the opposition MDC from taking place in Highfield, Harare.²⁶ The subsequent arrest and violent assault of several senior MDC leaders led to further unrest and violence in the high-density suburbs of Harare South, and provided the pretext for the government crackdown on the opposition, civil society activists, and perceived and actual supporters of the opposition that followed.

On the day of the meeting, hundreds of opposition supporters made their way to the Zimbabwe grounds in Highfield, Harare. MDC supporters and civil society activists informed Human Rights Watch that when they arrived at the grounds where the meeting was due to take place, they found that large groups of heavily armed riot police had surrounded the perimeter of the grounds and were manning all entrances into the ground.²⁷ 

Almost immediately after the activists arrived, and before the meeting could take place, security forces launched a brutal and unprovoked attack, and started beating the activists with batons and rifle butts, injuring dozens. One MDC supporter told Human Rights Watch, “Before getting to the ground we found riot police, military police and militia. Before we could do anything we were attacked by the military police. They came at us with batons, rifle butts, everything.”²⁸ Police and other security forces beat scores of MDC supporters and civil society activists. Many opposition supporters and activists sustained serious injuries, according to doctors from the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR).²⁹

In reaction to the security forces’ attacks, opposition supporters engaged in clashes with the police. As one MDC supporter told Human Rights Watch, “We were upset because the police were beating us; we started throwing stones at them.”³⁰ In an attempt to break up the skirmishes, police used tear gas and eventually fired live ammunition at the demonstrators, killing one MDC member, Gift Tandare.³¹ Bystanders were also caught up in the violence, with police randomly beating people in the streets of the high-density suburb of Highfield, Harare.³² According to police reports at least three police officers were injured during the clashes.³³

Police arrested more than 50 members of the opposition and civil society activists on their way to the meeting.³⁴ Others—including Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of one of the MDC factions—were arrested when they went to Machipisa police station to enquire about arrested colleagues. Also arrested were Arthur Mutambara, leader of the other MDC faction; Lovemore Madhuku, chair of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA); Mike Davies, chair of the Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA); Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson of the Tsvangirai-led MDC; and other senior MDC leaders including Grace Kwinjeh, Sekai Holland, and Tendai Biti.³⁵ The arrested MDC members and civil society activists were held at various police stations around Harare, and many of them were brutally beaten by police and security agents in custody.³⁶

Some of the worst beatings took place at Machipisa police station where several MDC members and civil society activists including Tsvangirai, Madhuku, Chamisa, Holland and Kwinjeh were held. Police forced the activists to lie facing down and beat them on the backs and buttocks with batons. Senior members of the MDC such as Tsvangirai and civil society activists such as Madhuku were singled out for particularly vicious beatings by the police who kicked the activists and beat them all over their bodies including around the head with batons and metal rods.³⁷ One activist who was also held at Machipisa police station told Human Rights Watch, “We were forced to lie down on our stomachs and we were beaten for two to three hours. Then Morgan Tsvangirai came and he was beaten as well. Then some of us were taken to Highlands police station. I was very sick from the beatings and was eventually admitted at the Avenues clinic. I was discharged on March 15.”³⁸

Lawyers representing the MDC members and civil society activists told Human Rights Watch that armed police manning the entrances of the police stations prevented them from seeing most of the detained activists for more than 24 hours after their detention.³⁹  It was also more than 24 hours after their arrest before the activists received medical attention for their injuries, despite a high court order demanding immediate medical access. Most of the activists were taken to Parirenyatwa hospital and the Avenues clinic in Harare where they were treated for their injuries.⁴⁰

According to a statement from doctors from ZADHR, 64 out of the scores of activists who were beaten when the prayer meeting was disrupted required medical treatment for injuries received during the skirmishes and while in custody.⁴¹ A statement by the organization reported that the activists beaten at Machipisa police station sustained severe blunt trauma injuries including multiple fractures, soft tissue bruising, and serious head injuries.⁴² A number of the MDC officials including Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinjeh were taken to South Africa for further treatment. The two female MDC officials were initially prevented from flying to South Africa for further medical treatment, because according to police they still faced charges of inciting violence.⁴³

The Zimbabwean authorities attempted to justify the disruption of the prayer meeting and the subsequent arrests and beatings that took place, claiming that the meeting was an attempt by the MDC and civil society activists to circumvent the police ban on political rallies. Minister of Home Affairs, Khembo Mohadi was quoted in the state newspaper The Herald as saying that the prayer gathering was in fact a political rally pretending to be a church event. Police chief spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena was also quoted as saying that police investigations had so far revealed that the Save Zimbabwe Campaign event was a political gathering and not a prayer meeting.⁴⁴ However, lawyers told Human Rights Watch that the prayer meeting did not require police clearance as it was not a political gathering.⁴⁵ To date, no charges have been brought against the 50 activists who were arrested on March 11.

Zimbabwe’s security forces failed to abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials both before and in the immediate aftermath of the prayer meeting.⁴⁶ The Basic Principles provide that “law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall as far as possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force….Whenever the lawful use of force…is unavoidable, law enforcement officials shall…exercise restraint in such use and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense.”⁴⁷ The legitimate objective should be achieved with minimal damage and injury, and preservation of human life respected.⁴⁸ The beating of the activists in police custody also breached several international and regional human rights laws.⁴⁹