Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean human rights violators could lose the right to travel to SA if an appeal due to be brought in the North Gauteng High Court today succeeds in forcing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to arrest known perpetrators who set foot in the country.

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), along with the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, is seeking an order setting aside a decision by the NPA not to prosecute 18 identified Zimbabwean human rights violators in the event they travel to SA.

The case, aimed at preventing SA from becoming a haven for those who commit crimes against humanity, is the first such action in the country. It arises from a dossier submitted to the NPA in March last year, two weeks before the violent election in Zimbabwe.

Earlier this year attempts were also made to secure accountability for the victims of the war in Gaza with a dossier being submitted to the NPA, said Nicole Fritz, the head of the SALC.

The Zimbabwe dossier included a legal opinion by advocates Wim Trengove , Gilbert Marcus and Max du Plessis about SA’s obligations under the Implementations of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Act .

The dossier contained numerous affidavits detailing personal experiences of widespread torture at the hands of the Zimbabwean police. Fritz brushed off suggestions that the case could jeopardise the fragile unity government, saying it was meant to prevent a recurrence of such abuses. “Security accountability can help stem the fallout in Zimbabwe,” she said.

Fritz said after a round of correspondence, SALC finally received a letter from the then acting NPA director Mokotedi Mpshe six months ago to the effect that he had been advised that the police did not intend investigating the matter.

The ICC legislation gives South African authorities the power to investigate and prosecute acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, no matter where those acts have been committed. This applies even if the perpetrators are not South African nationals .

The SALC maintained in its submission to the NPA that the senior Zimbabwean officials named travelled to SA fairly often, both for official and personal reasons.

(Source)

Two of Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF loyalists are on the verge of making it into the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).

The two loyalists namely Jacob Mudenda, the former ZANU PF chairman for Matabeleland North and Joseph Kurebwa, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) are on the list of 16 candidates shortlisted for imminent appointment to serve on the ZHRC by President Robert Mugabe.  

Mudenda, the former Provincial Governor for Matabeleland North was nominated amongst new ZANU PF central committee members for Matabeleland North.

Kurebwa is the UZ political scientist who is famous for toeing the ZANU PF party line by making a controversial pre-election survey tipping President Mugabe to score a “majority win” in last year’s presidential elections which he however lost to his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round of elections. Tsvangirai failed to garner the mandatory majority to form a government.

A presidential run off that was marred by human rights abuses forced Tsvangirai to pull out of contestation and resultantly Mugabe became “victorious” in a one man race.

Kurebwa’s survey was labeled by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) project after it was disowned by the University of Zimbabwe’s political science department.

Other candidates on the list which was submitted to President Mugabe by the chairman of Parliament’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) and Speaker of Parliament Hon. Lovemore Moyo include former Chief Immigration Officer and lawyer Elasto Mugwadi, medical practitioner Douglas Gwatidzo, Benhilda Makomva, Irene Sithole, Eunice Velempini, Professor Carol Temba Khombe, former Bulawayo Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, Sethulo Ncube, Kwanele Jirira, Stewart Nyakotyo, Sheila matindike, Kucaca Phulu and Ellen Sithole.

The sixteen were selected from 33 people who were interviewed to serve as commissioners on the ZHRC last month.

President Mugabe is expected to appoint eight members from the 16 nominees four of whom should be women.

He will also appoint a chairperson who should be someone who has been qualified for at least five years to practice as a legal practitioner and who is appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and the SROC.

According to the Constitution persons appointed to the ZHRC shall be chosen for their knowledge of and experience in the promotion of social justice or the protection of human rights and freedoms.

Among other functions the ZHRC will promote awareness of and respect for human rights and freedoms at all levels of society and to promote the development of human rights and freedoms.

The ZHRC will also monitor and assess the observance of human rights in Zimbabwe and recommend to Parliament effective measures to promote human rights and freedoms.

(Source)

Since Retired Major General Paradzai Willings Zimondi assumed control of the Prison service, prison conditions have reached an extreme of cruelty and deprivation. Death by enforced starvation and the withholding of medical attention is nothing less than murder in the first degree.

The trusted Mugabe right hand man brought in and appointed corrupt generals and colonels, lacking administrative skills, required to run the commanding heights of the Zimbabwe Prison Service, a move which has led to this decay we witness today.

Things got worse when he brought in Retired Major (Woman) Kanonge to head the finance department, Retired Major Madzimure to head Transport, Retired Major Dube to head construction department, Retired Major Ndebele to head the quartermaster’s department, Retired Major Makuvire to head procurement department, Retired Major Chihobvu to head Intelligence, Retired Major Seulah, Retired corporal Maramba, retired corporal Mafuta, Retired Major Sibanda, Retired corporal Chirombo, Retired WO2 Muzanechita, Retired coronel Maredza, Retired Major Vincent Ndlovu and many more.

Most of Zimbabwe’s top military brass are veterans of the 1970s liberation war against white minority rule and are fiercely loyal to ZANU PF.

As for new recruits into the force, priority was given to the Mugabe’s hated youth militias, there is little hope that the Prison Service will become an impartial body in any near future.

The militia training camps, which have been in existence since 2001, are places where school leavers are imbued with “patriotic values” as defined by the ruling party. Graduates from these camps, known as Green Bombers from their distinctive olive green uniforms, have been used to terrorise government opponents at successive elections inside the prison and outside.

“The retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi should be arrested now and face trial for crimes against humanity”.

I am disturbed by the arrest and harassment of Junior Officers Thabiso Nyathi (35), Siyai Muchechedzi (35) and Thembinkosi Nkomo (28). They were arrested on Friday on charges under the Official Secrets Act, which prescribes lengthy jail terms for government employees who leak state secrets.

The three should be released with immediate effect and UN should intervene now.

In the name of the United Nations Charter of Human Rights, Commissioner Zimondi and his Deputy Commissioners, Retired Major Vincent Ndlovu and Washington Chimboza should be arrested for crimes against humanity - and, while awaiting arraignment by a SADC or European Court of Justice, they should be detained in their own jails.

The main causes of prisoners’ deaths included reduced meals, shortage of drugs and poor health environment in our prisons.

Prisoners went for days without a meal and were occasionally supplied with food only meant to keep a person alive such as the staple sadza (a thick porridge made from maize meal) and salted, unclean water.

More often than not, inmates in many of the country’s jails have to survive on a single meal in two to three days of sadza and cabbage boiled in dirty salted water because there is no money to buy adequate supplies. This led to an outbreak of pellagra disease that slaughtered over a thousand inmates around the country.

Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease caused by shortage of vitamin B3 and protein.

The functions of the Zimbabwe Prison Service are derived from the mission statement and the broad functions of the ZPS are as follows: To protect society from the criminal elements through the incarceration and rehabilitation of offenders for their successful re-integration into society, while exercising reasonable, safe, secure and humane control. Offenders come to prison as punishment and not to be punished

In the ZPS we believed that offenders need to be given a second chance through rehabilitation.

Conditions in our prisons are inhuman. The new government must act swiftly to address this situation or else the prime minister will be sucked into this mess. Every single day they spend without acting will be blood on their hands.

It makes me cry to know that the cabinet is being sworn in while one of them is being added to the tally of prisoners.

I appeal to the International community to intervene before the three youngsters are tortured to death. I know they are chasing after my head but the truth will be told even if they kill me.

Shepherd Yuda

(Source)