Zimbabwe Denies State-Sponsored Violence Claims
May 21, 2012, 3:00 p.m. ET
Associated Press
HARARE, Zimbabwe—Zimbabwe’s justice minister rejected allegations that the
country has state-sponsored violence and he vowed not to recognize gay
rights after meeting with the U.N. human-rights chief Monday.
But the nation’s main independent civic groups accused President Robert
Mugabe’s party of trying to present a “fraudulent” account on human-rights
issues to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who is in
Zimbabwe to assess the situation.
In a joint statement Monday, 36 groups said they will boycott a meeting with
her arranged by Mr. Mugabe’s justice ministry at the Harare Parliament
building scheduled Tuesday. The groups said bogus organizations, some even
the perpetrators of injustice, were invited to “ambush” the rights
defenders’ talks with Ms. Pillay.
Earlier, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said he told Ms. Pillay that
claims of state-sponsored torture were untrue, and the allegations must be
investigated.
“There is no state-sponsored violence, these are all lies. We told her that
there are no torture chambers in Zimbabwe,” he said.
He said that Zimbabwe will arrest same sex partners found committing illegal
homosexual acts.
“We made it clear that in our law homosexual activities are criminalized and
that any person who commits homosexual activities will be arrested,” he told
reporters after meeting with Ms. Pillay in Harare.
Ms. Pillay arrived Sunday in Zimbabwe for a weeklong visit, the first by the
world rights chief, to assess rights violations. Mr. Chinamasa says Ms.
Pillay was invited by the coalition government formed in 2009 after
disputed, violent elections that were plagued by abuses blamed mainly on
militants of Mr. Mugabe’s party and loyalist police and troops.
Independent human-rights groups have compiled dossiers from witness accounts
of systematic political violence, assaults, beatings, rape and torture over
the past decade. At least 600 people have died, about 200 of them in
violence during campaigning for the last national elections in 2008.
The 36 groups said Monday that Mr. Chinamasa had insisted there was nothing
to hide from the U.N. envoy, but that he and justice ministry officials then
tried to suppress the activists’ views.
Mr. Mugabe’s party wanted to stage manage her mission using loyalists to
present “a glorified and sugar coated account” of rights issues, the
statement said.
“They don’t take this seriously. They are here to abuse Pillay’s visit,”
said Lovemore Mudhuku, an official of organizations that still hope to meet
Ms. Pillay independently.
No response was immediately available from Ms. Pillay’s visiting delegation.
Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party routinely denies violence against its opponents.
Ms. Pillay, who served as a judge in her native South Africa, has been at
the forefront of the documentation of reported killings in Syria during
uprisings against the government. She was also a former judge at the
International Criminal Court and head of the International Criminal Tribunal
on Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
In 2009, chief U.N. torture investigator Manfred Nowak was barred entry into
Zimbabwe at the Harare airport after claims he wasn’t officially cleared for
the visit.
In 2005, another special envoy of the U.N. secretary-general angered Mr.
Mugabe by criticizing a slum clearance program that left 700,000 people
homeless in urban strongholds of the former opposition led by Morgan
Tsvangirai, now the prime minister in the power-sharing coalition.
Ms. Pillay is scheduled to hold talks with Mr. Mugabe, Mr. Tsvangirai,
defense and service chiefs, judges, lawmakers and rights groups. She will
hear reports of alleged rights abuses at diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe
where the military has been accused of shootings and torture of villagers
and illegal diamond miners driven from mining areas.
Zanu-PF micro-managing UN Human Rights Chief’s tour
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 1 hour ago
Harare – The government of Zimbabwe through the Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Justice David Mangota has reportedly suppressed the interaction
between the visiting UN High Commissioner on Human Rights and the local
civil service organizations a move viewed as intended to stage manage the
High Commissioner’s tour.
Addressing a joint press conference on Monday hosted by the Zimbabwe lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR) endorsed by 37 local CSOs Abel Chikomo who read the
statement on behalf of the NGO Forum claimed Mangota had instead hired some
unknown human rights activists including a top human rights abuser the AAG
and Zanu (PF) activist Goodson Nguni to stand as the CSOs in place of ‘the
genuine ones’.
“The permanent secretary, David Mangota, ……….unilaterally changed the venue
of the meeting, moving it to Parliament building and had invited several
other ‘organisations’ that are not known to be doing any work on human
rights in Zimbabwe,” said chikomo.
The CSOs said the actions of the government were a clear indication that
they are the gross human rights abusers as evidenced by the fact that they
have denied the CSOs just a thirty minute meeting with the High Commissioner
out of her five day visit.
“Minister Chinamasa is already on record saying the government has nothing
to hide – so why are they choosing to suppress interaction between Madam
Pillay and credible and trusted CSOs who have been working on the ground for
decades? We today are here to make it clear that genuine CSOs will not be
commandeered by government to a stage-managed civil society meeting with the
High Commissioner which is organised by the government; neither will we
legitimise a fraudulent exercise meant to give the UN human rights chief a
superficial picture of our country’s human rights situation,” said the NGO
forum.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Director Irene Petras said it was not up
to government to say there were no human rights abuses but rather to the
people who bear the brunt of the government’s abuses and that the actions of
the government spoke volumes.
“It is very clear for every logical Zimbabwean who can read and write that
the government is (or) could be hiding something. So let the people make
their own conclusion on whether there are human rights abuses or not,” said
Petras.
Outspoken constitutional lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku said the CSOs
that had been invited by government to the meeting where just an extension
of the state which stands accused of the abuses on its own people.
“These are just an extension of the state now pretending to be involved in
Human Rights issues who want to abuse the visit by the High Commissioner;
this is how naïve they are,” said Madhuku.
Meanwhile the NGO Forum indicated their intention to boycott the upcoming
meeting saying it would not endorse and legitimize tomorrow’s meeting
between Pillay and the Zanu (PF)’s purported CSOs by attending it adding
that they would only show up at the originally agreed venue.
The NGO Forum said they had already prepared a report they handed to the
High Commissioner directly. -ZimEye