South African President Thabo Mbeki was due in Zimbabwe for talks, as part of his mediation efforts in the political crisis in the southern African country, his office said in a statement. The South African leader was appointed by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) group to mediate in the longstanding political stand-off between the government and the opposition in Zimbabwe.

Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of volunteers and professionals standing up for human rights. Independent of any government, ideology, economic interest or religion, we have more than two million supporters in over 150 countries. AI is currently recruited to fill two campaigner positions in the Africa programme, based in Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The deadline for applications is 28 November 2007.

The battle for the control of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Women's Assembly has exposed several issues which key stakeholders have to note. Key issues that require a critical analysis include the role of the women in the MDC, the election process, the use of women by men, the use of financial resources, the 50/50 campaign, Morgan Tsvangirai' s propensity to reward those with financial muscle, lack of constitutional respect and the unfair distribution of party resources to the structures.

Tuberculosis (TB) and its drug resistant strain is out of control in Zimbabwe, advocacy organisations in the country have warned. With years of health system neglect, one of the most severe HIV epidemics in the world, and the stark social and economic conditions many of its people have to contend with, prevention and control of TB is increasingly desperate in the country, the groups said in a media statement released at the 38th Union World Conference on Lung Health being held in Cape Town.

Chosen by a distinguished jury in the category “Humanitarian and voluntary leadership“ Betty Hazviperi Makoni will be honored at The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Ceremony during the JCI World Congress in Antalya, Turkey, on 6th November 2007.

Otto Saki asserts that the case of Zimbabwe has provided an excellent example of the flaws and the achievements of Africa’s own system for defending its citizens’ human rights against attacks from their own governments.

The situation in Zimbabwe has continued to degenerate and attract widespread attention.[1] The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the commission, hereafter) is an intergovernmental organisation which has been seized with several appeals about violations of human rights over freedom of expression, torture, politically motivated violence, undermining of the judiciary and independent national mechanisms and forced evictions under the guise of clean-up campaigns. There have been interventions over breaches and affronts against the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the charter, hereafter) to which Zimbabwe is a party.[2] The level, nature and extent of intervention by the commission have been argued over, particularly its mandate, how it is carried out and nature of its recommendations. States parties, including Zimbabwe, have abused or utilised what would be ordinarily institutional formulation of the commission and charter at the expense of the progressive development of African jurisprudence and institutions.

While Africa is perceived to have the worst human rights abuses, its human rights mechanisms either remain heavily inadequate or, as in most cases, are deliberately and overtly undermined by state actions. This undoubtedly makes a mockery of the efforts of those who provide their services as commissioners and as judges before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the court, herafter). The commission has gone through a remarkable phase of growth and has experienced its fair share of challenges, but it is safe to say its value as an African institution is second to none. For some states it has become a ‘source of marvel’ and for others a ‘source of pain’, but one cannot at this juncture wish the commission away.

Sessions of the commission

The work of regional and sub-regional intergovernmental human rights institutions remain very closely knitted with the work of human rights organisations, and Zimbabwe is no exception. Through the granting of observer status, organisations are recognised not only by the commission but effectively by the African Union. Currently, more than seven[3] organisations with observer status before the commission have been involved in the implementation of the charter in Zimbabwe.[4] The commission’s work on Zimbabwe gained significant momentum during its 31st session, when Zimbabwe topped the agenda during the NGO forum. As a result the government of Zimbabwe agreed to accept a fact-finding mission into its human rights record.[5] The African NGO Forum met ahead of the commission and adopted the first statement on Zimbabwe. The commission was further seized of the communication from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, making it the first substantial communication on Zimbabwe.[6]

With the commission’s decision to send a fact-finding mission, Harare became more and more aggressive in its public stance on human rights organisations and the commission itself. This marked the beginning of increased verbal attacks on the commission and the commissioners, sadly with the African Union providing little or no defence, at least publicly, of the work of the commission.[7] This made it possible for some to assume that the attacks on the commission were justified whereas in fact they were uncalled for and completely inappropriate.
Fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe
The commission conducted its first fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe from 24 to 28 June 2002.[8] Several meetings were held with government ministries, notably home affairs and justice, members of the judiciary, human rights advocates and lawyers, as well various civil society organisations.

When the report was presented to the government of Zimbabwe, unparalleled attacks and criticisms of the commission were published: The Herald, a state-controlled newspaper, wrote on 6 July 2004: ‘According to the sources, the [African Commission] report was similar to reports produced by the British-funded Amani Trust, which is well-known for its anti-Zimbabwe stance and falsifying the situation in the country.’ An editorial in The Sunday Mail on 11 July stated: ‘Reading through the [African Commission’s] report one detects the hand of a known Zimbabwean lawyer and the Amani racists.’[9]

In another related diatribe the papers bemoaned:

Pan-Africanists who want to take seriously the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and its successor, the AU, find the debate over the fraudulent report quite confusing and demoralising because of the failure of the African journalists, especially, to go beyond the shallow events in the story: that is, that the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights held some hearings and produced a fraudulent report with the assistance of the British, other donors and some racist (non-governmental organisations) NGOs. What is missing from the story is the fact that this report is the latest in a series of lies, especially about and against Zimbabwe.[10]

Several other statements were later made by government spin doctors, attacking the work of the commission.

The report of the fact-finding mission was adopted by the commission in its 17th Activity Report. The government of Zimbabwe created unprecedented havoc when the report was being adopted by the Executive Council of Ministers, and effectively the African Union.[11] Zimbabwe was allowed to provide additional responses to the report, which was eventually adopted by the African Union, along with Zimbabwe’s response, almost three years later.[12] The findings of the commission remain largely unimplemented and rights are being further undermined.[13]

Following the forced evictions of May 2005, the United Nations dispatched a special envoy on human settlement, while the African Union hurriedly sent in its Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons, Refugees and Asylum Seekers. The government of Zimbabwe would not allow the special rapporteur to carry out any field visits, arguing that proper procedures of the African Union had not been followed.[14] The African Union envoy spent a week in ‘solitary confinement’ in his hotel, an unfortunate development given the importance of regional institutions.

Communications and special mechanisms

The various mechanisms under the commission, including the special rapporteurs on human rights defenders[15] and on freedom of expression,[16] have responded to the apparent increase in attacks on human rights defenders, women activists and journalists. However, the problem with these mechanisms, as in similar systems, is the failure to provide adequate human and financial resources to follow through most of the appeals. Governments have to a large extent taken the urgent appeals seriously, and the Zimbabwe government seems to have responded to most of the appeals, though it is arguable whether the responses addressed the issues raised or merely created excuses for continued violations under the guise of maintaining law and order.

The commission conducted a hearing on Zimbabwe under Article 46 of the charter,[17] which allows the commission to use any mechanism to investigate human rights in a state party. In its usual display of disdain for any practical and critical work of the commission, the delegation from Zimbabwe refused to participate in the meeting, citing unfair practices and procedural irregularities. It is interesting to note that during the same session the delegation from Zimbabwe was distributing print editions of New African magazine and two reports produced by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).[18] The credibility of the national police and in particular its intelligence gathering have been challenged.[19]

It is arguable that, after the communications submitted on Nigeria during the military regime, Zimbabwe currently has the largest number of communications before the commission. The subjects of the petitions range from freedom of expression, to forced evictions, the independence of national institutions such as the judiciary, extra judicial and summary killings, torture, and inadequate legislative and constitutional mechanisms.[20]

Victories before the commission

Working with the commission has been simultaneously challenging and rewarding. Of the communications submitted, at least one has been concluded in which the government of Zimbabwe was found to have violated provisions of the charter. In April 2006, the commission issued provisional measures in respect of the forced evictions, directing the government to take urgent and appropriate measures to obviate the general deterioration of the health of terminally ill individuals who due to forced evictions carried out under Operation Murambatsvina had no access to anti-retroviral treatment.[21] The government was also asked to ensure that school-age children were able to sit their final exams, and to provide shelter and medical treatment for the elderly and the sick.[22]

While the procedures of the commission badly need reform, it is critical to note the importance of its decisions on the admissibility of a communication. In no fewer than four separate incidents, the commission has ruled communications submitted from Zimbabwe as admissible. These decisions provide irrefutable evidence of the inadequacies of human rights protection in Zimbabwe; they also imply the absence of effective domestic remedies for the rights violations alleged in the communications. Such decisions are an indictment of the judiciary as well as an unequivocal indicator that the judiciary and the justice delivery system in Zimbabwe no longer guarantee enjoyment of universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms.[23]

In Communication 245/02, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum/Republic of Zimbabwe, the commission made recommendations about the election- related violence of 2000 and 2002 as well as the violence orchestrated during the chaotic land reform. In a statement the NGO Forum noted that the:

Commission found the Government of Zimbabwe in violation of articles 1 and 7 of the African Charter. This means that the Government of Zimbabwe had violated the right to protection of the law and that it failed to put in place measures to ensure the enjoyment of these rights by Zimbabweans. The endorsement of the decision by the African Union is recognition by African Heads of States that there are human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

Political interference and undermining the work of the commission

With civil society and human rights organisations recording such public success, the government of Zimbabwe has begun to pay more attention to the commission. With like-minded countries that have equally poor human rights records, it attacks, undermines and ridicules the work of the commission, through subterfuge and unfounded interpretation of the rules of procedure of the African Union and the commission. Such procedural theatrics caused the delays in the publication of the report of the fact-finding mission of 2002, as well as the decision of Communication 245/05. With the latter, the government of Zimbabwe made submissions to the commission well after the completion of all inquiries and hearings. Of concern are the African Union leadership’s acquiescence and conspicuous silence;[24] to a large extent the African Union has failed to support the commission from government attacks. The non-implementation of the commission’s recommendations remains a paramount concern.

Lessons for Africa

The commission is a creation of the African Union, with a mandate to monitor, promote and protect the rights enshrined in the charter, the same charter which makes it mandatory to implement legislative and administrative mechanisms to deliver the rights in the charter. Because signing up to the charter and similar instruments are voluntary acts, limiting a nation’s sovereignty, the commission has a unique status and neither seeks to undermine national institutions such as courts, nor replace them. Zimbabwe has regressed from a country that was hailed as the symbol of progress and development to the antithesis of every principle of development, human rights adherence, promotion and protection.

The importance of supra-national institutions in enforcing universal and regional human rights standards remains critical. The weakness inherent in these institutions is an indictment of leadership in Zimbabwe – and in Africa. It remains the prerogative of every progressive citizen of Africa to safeguard these institutions from individuals who have bestowed upon themselves powers to govern, misgovern, build and destroy. Such powers, if unchecked and curtailed by invoking celebrated universal human rights standards, will lead us to bondage and slavery under our kith and kin. That day will indeed be a sad day for humanity and Africa.

* Otto Saki is a lawyer with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

For references and notes, see link below.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has turned down an opposition request for an all-party meeting to discuss voter registration and demarcation of voting constituencies for next year’s polls, ZimOnline has learnt. ZEC chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi told the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party that there was no justification to call a meeting of the multi-party liaison committee because the matters the opposition was raising were discussed at previous meetings.

A prominent international refugee organisation is calling for an end to the deportations of undocumented Zimbabweans by neighbouring countries. After a month-long fact-finding mission to the region, Refugees International (RI), a US-based non-governmental refugee advocacy group, published a bulletin, Zimbabwe Exodus, on its observations.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, in his 27th year of rule, is ignoring approaches from former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela to step down, reports have said. The usually reliable weekly Zimbabwe Independent, quoting unnamed sources, also said that former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan had tried to meet with Mugabe to discuss his retirement, but he too had been ignored. No comment could be obtained from Mugabe's office.

Mary Ndlovu presents some hard truths about life in Zimbabwe and questions those Pan Africanists who fall for Mugabe’s “anti-imperalist rhetoric”. She asks if there is hope? Yes there is but only if Pan Africanism is “turned on it’s head” and “seized by the people” away from leaders not just in Zimbabwe but across Africa who have consistently betrayed the people.

Experts on HIV/Aids issues were on Thursday questioning the authenticity of recent figures released by government which suggested that epidemic’s prevalence rates were dropping. The government on Wednesday released new statistics that showed that the HIV/Aids prevalence rate has declined from 18,1 percent to 15,6 percent over the past four years. The Ministry of Health was quick to claim the “victory” as a “reflection of the unrelenting campaign by the government”.

Mediation talks between the ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition MDC have been postponed temporarily, dealing a new setback to efforts to find a lasting solution to the country’s crippling economic and political crisis. The Thabo Mbeki led talks were called off on Wednesday night due to the death of Patrick Chinamasa’ son, who was reportedly studying at a college in Michigan, United States. A source told Newsreel from Johannesburg that Chinamasa’s son, who was 23 years old, died in his sleep on Wednesday, the day the talks resumed in Pretoria after a month long break.

Speakers: Mandira Sharma and Arnold Tsunga
Chair: Dr Jenny Kuper
Date and time: Tuesday 6 November, 12.30-1.30pm
Venue: New Theatre, East Building, LSE (click here for a How to get to

The Mugabe regime’s plans to acquire state-of-the-art anti-riot gear to use against the opposition ahead of next year’s elections have been foiled, the MDC says. Allegations that Zanu PF had made proposals to the South African government to buy US$1,5 million worth of military equipment came to light at a meeting convened by Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and officials from the main opposition party.

The government has pledged to investigate opposition allegations of state sanctioned violence against its supporters, apparently under pressure from South Africa, which is mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis, to keep the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at the negotiating table. MDC officials, who attended a meeting with Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi at his offices in Harare yesterday told journalists that the Minister made an undertaking to investigate charges by the opposition of a new wave of Zanu PF attacks against its supporters.

As the Zanu PF power struggle rages on, President Robert Mugabe has all but secured the endorsement he desperately needs to be the party's presidential candidate in next year's elections. What remains is an automatic approval of his candidacy at the party's extraordinary congress in December, it became evident this week.

n aspiring MDC parliamentary candidate and two other party officials were abducted from their homes Thursday in Chipinge South and are being held at a police post manned by war veterans at Checheche growth point. The opposition officials were bundled into a white B1800 truck with no number plates by six heavily built men in broad daylight. Before startled onlookers could help, the truck was driven away at high speed.

MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai’s long serving bodyguard, Nhamo Musekiwa, has died in South Africa from complications sustained during an assault by state security agents in March this year. The 37 year old had been guarding Tsvangirai since 1999 when the party was formed. At the time of his death he was recuperating at a hospital in South Africa. This followed the brutal assaults on Tsvangirai and several other activists after an aborted prayer rally in Highfields.

Grace Kwinjeh has begun a weekly set of summaries of powerful progressive politics for the Center for Civil Society based in Durban. Below are the links to this week's articles.

Health and Human Rights Abuses in Zimbabwe:

Defending women
http://www.swradioafrica.com/Documents/violence-againstWOZAwomen121007.pdf

Stand-off between MDC and NCA healthy for democracy
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/opinion.htm

Inflation solution lies in politics

Migrant workers worldwide sent home more than US$300 billion in 2006:
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/migrantworkers181007.html

Timeline: Zimbabwe's economic decline
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/inflation168.17051.html

New prices still too little
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/page116.htm

Is ZSE bull run losing its steam
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/markets15.17059.html

MDC’s Mbeki talks shocker

Mary Ndlovu presents some hard truths about life in Zimbabwe and questions those Pan Africanists who fall for Mugabe’s “anti-imperalist rhetoric”. She asks if there is hope? Yes there is but only if Pan Africanism is “turned on it’s head” and “seized by the people” away from leaders not just in Zimbabwe but across Africa who have consistently betrayed the people.

Thanks to Rotimi Sankore for blowing aside the smokescreen which obscures the real issues in Zimbabwe for many well-wishers of a Pan Africanist persuasion. President Mugabe is very clever in his use of anti-imperialistic rhetoric to attract the loyalty of many unsuspecting supporters throughout Africa. It saddens Zimbabweans to see how easily people can be misled by words and ignore the true facts on the ground, thus failing to reach a meaningful understanding of our tragedy. Perhaps their perspective could be improved by a few hard realities:

Zimbabweans have a lower material standard of living now than they have had since the 1940's up to one quarter of the population has fled the country, due either to political harassment and torture or to inability to survive and feed their families tens of thousands of Zimbabweans are dying of treatable diseases because the health system has collapsed teachers earn less than the cost of their transport to work; their monthly salary will buy ten litres of petrol, but none can afford a car chiefs, discredited during the liberation war as supporters of the Smith regime, are being restored and elevated, imposed on the rural population as unelected leaders, and placed on the government payroll a small elite of ruling party cronies, families and relatives, without any evidence of working for it, live at a standard far beyond the expectations of most middle class professionals of the developed world Anyone who wishes to study the situation honestly will have to admit that none of this is caused by western "sanctions".

Our government has systematically destroyed an already troubled economy, for the purpose of staying in power. Rather than respond falling living standards in the 1990's by devising rational policies which could serve the people - or alternatively admitting failure and allowing the opposition to try their own solutions - the government panicked, determined to stay in power at all costs, put politics ahead of economic sense, and the whole descent into repression and chaos resulted.

It is an insult to Zimbabweans to expect that, faced with declining living standards, they would not seek to change a government which might bring them something better. Why should they be used by foreign exploiters - any more than the nationalist movement of the 60's and 70's was being used by communist meddlers?

Here are better explanations of the current Zimbabwean crisis:

There is a shortage of food because government forcibly stopped the most knowledgeable and skilled farmers from growing food there is a shortage of almost everything, including food, medicine, transport, manufactures and services because government has forced everyone to sell their goods and services at less than the production cost people are dying of starvation because government would prefer them to die than to lose control of food distribution to donors Bulawayo, a city of a million people has no water because government, since Independence in 1980, has not constructed a single new source for a population which has multiplied five times; it would prefer to kill a city which has the reputation of being an opposition stronghold those who dare to protest publicly that the situation is intolerable are arrested, battered, tortured, and thrown into lice, flea and excrement infested cells It is also true that there were poor rains in 2007. There have been poor rains before, and much of Zimbabwe is drought-prone. It is the responsibility of governments to deal with this type of problem and develop contingencies. If the government has not found out in 27 years how to deal with recurring drought, then they do not know how to fulfil their responsibilities.

Imperialists have been around for at least two centuries. If government has not found out how to deal with modern day "imperialists" (or globalisation) to protect their own people, they do not know how to lead an African nation. No amount of rhetoric is going to change the world order. But the rhetoric, along with the repression that has destroyed the economy, the society and the polity has killed a once vibrant nation full of hope. The dismemberment of families and the moral and material destruction of an entire society may have kept our government in power; it will never solve the problem of imperialism.

It is one thing to analyse what has gone wrong in Zimbabwe. It is quite another to take action which will promote positive change. Zimbabweans once (only seven long years ago) naively believed that leaders in Africa would understand the true nature of the tragedy which has struck us. No longer. It is now crystal clear that they are cast in a similar mould. Problems in their own countries stem from some of the same causes. If other governments in the region faced the same strength of opposition as Zimbabwe did in 2000 and 2002, they might look very similar to ours. We have only to watch the repression of protesters over housing and service provision in South Africa to understand the true position. Yes Mbeki may succeed in forcing some kind of accommodation between the MDC and ZANU PF. It might just improve the sad lot of Zimbabweans in some small way. But let us not fool ourselves into believing that it will promote any kind of social justice.

Opposition parties are cut from the same cloth and in countries where they have gained power have yet to show that they can deliver to the people Our nationalist movements for independence were led by intellectuals, by petty bourgeoisie, by labour aristocrats frustrated by their own lack of opportunity. They gained the support of the peasantry and the workers. But once in power they became distracted by the comforts of office, the self-importance of command and the prospect of fabulous wealth through corruption. Africa as a whole has been betrayed by nationalist movements, by governments, by liberation movements, and even by the new elite- the NGOs. So let us not expect much from our "leaders". They are not going to bring us social justice, whatever elite-pacting may take place in the secret places behind closed doors.

Where, then lies the future? Must we stop hoping and trying? Does Pan Africanism have any role to play? Of course it does. But only if we claim it away from the rhetoricians and the charlatans and the leaders who have betrayed us. We must turn it on its head and seize it for the people. Only through Herculean efforts of the social movements who demand a share of the wealth, and respect and comfort for the people will we make progress. And for this purpose we must form cross-border alliances at grass roots level to counter those alliances of corrupt leaders that the AU and SADC have become.

No one said this could be easy. Just as the liberation struggle was long and hard, so will this one be. But this time we must be more aware of the reality of not just potential but probable betrayal by leaders. We must develop new styles of leadership based on service not power and privilege. Then we can support each other across Africa, and step by careful step build a new Pan Africanism based on social justice for the people.

* Mary Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean human rights activist.

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org