The Effects of Fighting Repression With Love

"The members of WOZA are drawn from mature and responsible women, taking care of their families in the face of extreme hardship. They have taken on the cause of applying pressure upon the Zimbabwe government to institute polices and systems to alleviate this hardship, which is clearly in the tradition of responsible citizenry, and would be normal in most democracies. Peaceful protest, or, as WOZA puts it, “tough love”, is clearly an appropriate response to the crisis in Zimbabwe, and it is even conceded by the Zimbabwean Republican Police itself, albeit by default, that WOZA engages in peaceful protest.

However, in the course of defending their rights and demanding social justice, WOZA members have suffered extreme abuse perpetrated by state actors. WOZA members have not been afforded the protection of the law, and their peaceful protest is met with brutal force, of which they bear scars both physical and psychological.

In perpetrating this abuse, the Zimbabwean law enforcement agents are in violation of their own professional codes, of the Zimbabwean constitution and of the criminal law. By instructing the abuses, the government of Zimbabwe and the politicians who lead it, are similarly in violation of their own oaths of loyalty to the constitution, of international human rights law and of domestic and international criminal law.

As Zimbabwe enters a critical period in which some form of transition must come sooner or later to change the political landscape, WOZA continues to protest in the streets and continues to be abused by law enforcers."

This WOZA March 2008 report documents human rights violations and provides several kinds of recommandations.

Zimbabwe 2008 : The Effect of Fighting Repression With Love

WOZA political violence report 19 03 08

Woza’s Press Release on the occasion of this report

On Wednesday 19 March 2008 in Harare, at an event attended by diplomats, civic society leaders and members of WOZA and MOZA, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the political violence experienced by their members. The report is entitled “The effects of fighting repression WITH LOVE”.

The report is a result of research conducted by WOZA on what violations its members have gone through as women human rights defenders and who the perpetrators of these abuses are. The report was launched to make public the findings and to urgently draw attention to the risks faced by women activists as Zimbabwe braces itself for an election. It is intended that those who read the report will be motivated to take action to remedy the damage done to millions of people’s lives by a violent dictatorship.

The meeting was chaired by WOZA’s partners, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who vocalised their praise for the detail in the report and for the need for the women human rights defenders to be respected and for there to be justice for the abuses. ZLHR Board member and lawyer, Sarudzai Njerere said, ‘the report is an important tool in documenting what Zimbabweans have experienced’ and that ‘we should all join WOZA in standing up for social justice”.

Prominent activist and WOZA trustee, Mary Ndlovu launched the report by giving a brief outline of its contents. She highlighted that it encompasses the police response to peaceful protests by WOZA; that the majority of women interviewed reported multiple human rights violations; that it is apparent that police would like to intimidate and deter women from participation and that the police are in violation of domestic and regional professional codes and are committing criminal law offences all of which call for punishment although none seems to be forthcoming due to a breakdown and partial way the justice system now operates.

She went on to point out that the Zimbabwean government officials who give order to beat or detain the human rights defenders render Zimbabwe in violation of its own constitution and in breach of obligations under international law.

Two WOZA members also gave testimonies of their experiences at the hands of the Uniformed Branch and Law and Order department of the ZRP. One woman in the company of her four-year-old daughter, testified about their arrest and detention in horrid conditions for three days in 2004, well over the 48hour detention period permitted under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Her daughter was only three months old at the time and she only had two nappies with her and had to fight to access water to wash them when they became soiled. When members of WOZA tried to send disposable nappies in for her baby, police officers misappropriated them and she never received them. Despite this and further arrests and beatings, she remains an active member of WOZA.

Another woman testified that she had been abducted from her home in Bulawayo with her 18-month-old grandchild at 4am by Law and Order officers. They threatened to kill her by throwing her and the child in a dam. She had also been seriously beaten across the breasts by police and had to undergo extended medical treatment. These testimonies are indicative of the experiences of peaceful activists and reflective of the physical and mental torture they undergo in fighting for their basic freedoms to be realised.

WOZA National Coordinator, Jenni Williams, outlined the recommendations highlighted in the report. She also went on to say that in the light of WOZA’s recent experience in Bulawayo on the 8th March 2008, International Women’s Day, where over 50 members were brutalised, just weeks before the upcoming 29 March election, a free and fair climate for elections does not exist.

The report calls on the Zimbabwean government to immediately end violence against its citizens and on the Zimbabwe Republic Police to honour their commitment to the Police Act and the SARPCCO Code of Conduct for police officers. It also calls on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support human rights defenders rather than oppressive governments that deny people their domestically and internationally guaranteed rights and on the African Union (AU) to isolate representatives of the Zimbabwe government and any other government that fails to abide by its obligations under international law to respect human rights.

The international community was also called on to recognize the contribution of WOZA members as human rights defenders, and assist in the documentation and publicising of violations so that justice may be served in the future.

A further recommendation is for a Transitional Justice programme. The reports reads, “We call on Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans alike to assist in putting into place a mechanism which satisfies the wishes of the Zimbabwean people to see not retribution, but justice, truth and reconciliation, so that the guilty can do penance and the victims can feel healed of the many wounds they have suffered at the hands of state agents.”

Whilst the report made mention of the trauma experienced by WOZA women as a result of their experiences, it was felt that the findings are significant enough to be released in a separate report due for release soon. What is clear however is that the women have experienced more trauma in an independent Zimbabwe than in pre-Independence period.

Ends

20th March 08

The Woza Report’s Introduction

Although Zimbabwe has a troubled history, both pre and post-Independence, it has been in extended turmoil since the year 2000. The origin of the crisis lies in failed government policies, which have led to economic collapse and a devastating fall in the standards of living of the large majority of the population. As a result, civil society became stronger and more vibrant and a viable political opposition was formed, both of which began demanding change of both policies and political leadership. The ruling party’s response has been to revisit and intensify its repressive ways of the 1980’s, stifle any criticism and frustrate any organisation not enjoying its blessing. At the same time it has introduced irresponsible policies and strengthened the role of patronage to retain sufficient support to create a façade of legitimacy. These in turn destroyed the productive bases of the economy and created massive impoverishment for all except the few beneficiaries of government’s misplaced largesse. But the resulting protest by pro-democracy groupings has been met only with violence from state agents.

This report describes the violence that has been visited upon the members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a movement founded in 2003 to create a voice for women to speak out about the injustices they encounter in their every-day struggle for survival. Starting from a determination to claim their right to freedom of expression, the women identified the following as their aims:

 Provide women, from all walks of life, with a united voice to speak out on issues affecting their day-to-day lives.
 Empower female leadership that will lead community involvement in pressing for solutions to the current crisis.
 Encourage women to stand up for their rights and freedoms.
 Lobby and advocate on those issues affecting women and their families. [1]

Working on the principles of strategic nonviolence, through peaceful civic actions, WOZA aimed to create space to allow Zimbabweans to articulate issues they have been too fearful to raise alone. Since its formation five years ago, WOZA has conducted over 100 demonstrations, peacefully marching on the streets to voice its displeasure with the political, economic, and social state of affairs in Zimbabwe. The denial of the right to social justice has motivated the women to become human rights defenders and to confront the government, demanding the internationally guaranteed rights to expression, assembly, education, health and an adequate standard of living. A report by Amnesty International concurs that many women in Zimbabwe reported that they are failing to feed their families, pay school fees or pay for medical care for themselves and their extended families. Their situation has been aggravated by the government’s continual attack on their sources of income, such as the harassment of informal traders and vendors by state agents, and the constant decline in the value of the currency because of a poorly performing economy. [2] WOZA’s hallmark message is given each year on Valentine’s Day, when red roses are distributed and Zimbabweans urged to choose love over the hate propaganda of the government.

The government of Zimbabwe, instead of addressing the issues that the women are protesting about, has responded by using brutal force and attacking anybody who engages in even peaceful demonstrations and protests. The members regularly experience ill treatment at the hands of the Zimbabwean police when they are arrested for what, in most democratic countries, is normal civic activity. Over 2,500 women have spent time in police custody, most more than once, willing to suffer beatings and unbearable conditions in prison cells to exercise their constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms.

The violations take place in the context of a nation, which espouses a constitution that guarantees the right to freedom of expression and assembly, and is party to many international human rights instruments, which hold similar guarantees. Since 2000 it has introduced legislation and policies, which effectively deny the population the exercise of these rights, and it has subverted the justice system in such a way that the new laws can rarely be tested in the courts. The government of Zimbabwe is thus in breach of its own constitution as well as its international law obligations when it instructs its police to assault and arrest WOZA members staging peaceful demonstrations.

In mid-2007 research was carried out to establish the nature and extent of violence experienced by WOZA women at the hands of state agents. The survey covered the period from 2000, before WOZA was formed, but also included questions relating to earlier periods in their lives, dating back to the 1970’s, during the liberation war. Many of the women active today in WOZA were active in the political opposition from 2000 and suffered violations during the elections in 2000 and 2002. Many were also victims of violence during the liberation war and/or the Gukurahundi period of the mid 80’s in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The aim of the research was not only to record the violations suffered as a result of WOZA activities, but also to obtain a profile of women’s experiences of organised violence in the context of Zimbabwe’s violent history. Our findings show that women pay a dear price for taking on the role of human rights defenders. While to date no death has been recorded of a WOZA woman as a direct result of WOZA activities, a high level of violence has occurred and women have suffered torture, injuries, incarceration, humiliation and trauma in order to keep their voices heard by Zimbabweans and the international community. The death of one member, Maria Moyo, can also be attributed to police action. She failed to recover after being abducted by police from her sick bed and kept in freezing conditions for over six hours while being threatened with drowning in Khami Dam.

WOZA women are of course not the only activists on the receiving end of police brutality in Zimbabwe. Opposition politicians, students, trade unionists, journalists and members of other civil society organisations have likewise been victims, often subjected to even more horrifying treatment. Together all have been a powerful voice for the victims of political mismanagement.

Zimbabwe 2008 : The Effect of Fighting Repression With Love

WOZA political violence report 19 03 08

http://wozazimbabwe.org/