Travesty of justice!
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Wednesday, 17 October 2012 19:24
Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has finally signed into law the Zimbabwe Human
Rights Commission Act that allows investigations into incidents of
politically-motivated violence but critics say this piece of legislation
glosses over the country’s poor human rights record.
The law — gazetted last Friday as Act No 2/2012 and is already in force —
only covers political crimes committed from January 2009. In essence, it
effectively rules out investigations into cases of political violence which
rocked the country in the 2008 harmonised polls, particularly in the run-up
to the June 2008 presidential election run-off.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) claims that more than 200 of its
supporters were killed in State-sponsored violence during this period.
Investigations into the deaths could have shed some light into what really
went wrong after the first round of the presidential race won by MDC-T
leader, Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai before he pulled out citing
violence targeting his supporters.
Critics say there is still need for a probe to determine why violence was
unleashed on defenceless citizens whose crime was to seek to exercise their
democratic right – to vote for a person or party of their own choice.
So far no-one has explained who sanctioned the perpetrators to launch a
violent campaign. Not a single person has to date been arrested for the
cold-blooded killings. Citizens had thought the human rights law would have
helped in unmasking the people that committed crimes against humanity in the
run-up to the presidential election run-off, but alas.
A probe into these dastard acts of June 2008 could have brought closure to
this dark part of Zimbabwe’s history but the secrecy around these incidents
leaves more questions than answers.
So there is a huge disappointment among the country’s citizens that this
dark period in Zimbabwe’s history remains unexplained despite the
consummation of a coalition government that was expected to heal the nation
and deal, once and for all, with the polarisation, which is still inherent
in the country. To most people, it is a tragedy bordering on criminality and
a travesty of justice that the period which changed the face of Zimbabwe in
the region remains a dark secret.
There have also been calls for the government to date back investigations
into politically-motivated violence to 2002. MDC supporters particularly
want State agents and ZANU-PF supporters implicated in the death of PM
Tsvangirai’s two aides in the run-up to those polls jailed. The known
perpetrators of the violence which killed the two MDC activists walk the
streets unrestrained, they claim.
There has been a court battle between the South African government and
independent human rights groups who want a report into the matter made
public. Former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who sanctioned the
report, refused to have it made public despite asking his generals who
monitored Zimbabwe’s 2002 elections to make known their findings.
What enrages human rights activists even more is that the new law also does
not permit a probe into disturbances that rocked Matabeleland and some parts
of the Midlands provinces in the early 1980s. It is estimated that more than
20 000 civilians were killed in cold-blood during the Gukurahundi era.
Victims of the political disturbances in these provinces have long demanded
that the issue be investigated. Independent human rights groups, including
the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace have produced damning reports
on the political disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands, showing the
military’s complicity in political violence.
While there have been calls for the establishment of a truth and
reconciliation commission into these atrocities modelled along South Africa’s
inquiry into political violence committed under apartheid, these calls have
fallen on deaf ears with the government reluctant to expose skeletons in its
closets.
To all intents and purposes, the new law effectively puts paid efforts aimed
at unravelling the country’s human rights record from 1980 to date.
Although members of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) were sworn
in — in March 2010 — the commission had been waiting for the promulgation of
the human rights law to enable it to become operational.
Its members, according to Veritas, a local legal watchdog, have however,
been able to prepare for their duties by paying familiarisation visits to
similar national human rights institutions in other countries in the
interim.
“Now, however, they should be able to get down to work, which includes
hearing complaints of human rights violations – both current and those since
13th February 2009,” said Veritas.
Trevor Maisiri, a political analyst with the International Crisis Group,
said the signing of the bill was expected since the three parties in the
Global Political Agreement had agreed to limit the mandate of the ZHRC to
post 2009 cases.
“Though the bill does not address pre-2009 cases, I think it gives Zimbabwe
a starting point to instituting justice and curtailing human rights abuses.
Zimbabwe’s case is that of a complex transition and such transitions at
times take long to fully evolve. What complex transitions need is a starting
point, and this bill seems to provide for that,” said Maisiri.
Critics say what is key now is the political will from all key stakeholders
in allowing the commission the independence to do its work.
While welcoming the eventual gazetting of the Act after inordinate delays,
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said at last Zimbabwe has a
constitutional body mandated to promote fundamental rights and freedoms, and
to protect the public against abuse of power and maladministration by the
State.
Although the ZLHR maintains that the powers of the Minister of Justice and
Legal Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, remained too wide, discretionary, and
could have the effect of blocking key investigations and adversely affecting
transparency, accountability and independence of the commission, the
watchdog said the importance of having an operational commission to deal
with the protection of human rights could not be over-emphasised,
particularly in a society where violations of fundamental rights and
freedoms remain prevalent.
Executive director of the ZLHR, Irene Petras, urged civil society and the
general public to continue to scrutinise the conduct of the Minister of
Justice so as to ensure his powers are not abused to the detriment of
effective investigation and redress of alleged abuses.
“ZLHR remains mindful of the emotive issue of outstanding redress for past
human rights excesses prior to the timeline provided to the ZHRC for
investigation of human rights abuses. ZLHR therefore reiterates its call to
the coalition government to urgently establish an independent and credible
mechanism to deal with issues relating to past human rights violations and
atrocities,” said Petras.
“This independent mechanism must be mandated to deal with all past human
rights violations that have occurred in Zimbabwe, including the
pre-independence era, as well as the post-independence atrocities of
Gukurahundi, Operation Murambatsvina, and electoral-related crimes, amongst
others.”
Citizens yearn for justice in all the incidents of political violence dating
back to the colonial era. What the new law purports to do is nothing but a
travesty of justice as it completely ignores pre-2009 crimes.