Zimbabwe 2023

The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly were severely restricted, particularly during the election period. Opposition members, or those associated with the opposition, bore the brunt of the widescale repression of dissent, including arbitrary detention and prosecution. New legislation imposed further restrictions on and harsh penalties against activists and critics. Plain-clothes state agents abducted political activists, tortured them, and killed one man. At least one activist was reportedly killed by ruling party supporters. The authorities took measures to control the spread of a cholera outbreak which killed at least 100 people and affected thousands more. Women and girls were denied their right to sexual and reproductive health. New legislation went some way to addressing children’s need for protection.

Background

President Emmerson Mnangagwa won a second term in office in the general elections, which took place on 22 and 23 August, and in which the electorate also voted for legislators and local authority representatives.

Repression of dissent

The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly continued to be threatened, especially during the general election period. Members of the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), were the main targets of repression.

Just over one month before election day, the president signed into law the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Act, 2022. It failed to meet the requirements of legality, proportionality and necessity in relation to the imposition by the authorities of penalties like loss of citizenship and the death penalty against people simply for peacefully exercising their human rights. It heightened the risk of arbitrary detention against those who expressed dissenting views, and contained overly broad provisions that criminalized participation in meetings.

University of Zimbabwe students Benjamin Watadza, Emmanuel Chitima, Comfort Mpofu, Lionel Madamombe, Gamuchirai Chaburumunda and Darlington Chigwena were all arrested at different times between 17 May and 8 June for staging a peaceful protest in the capital, Harare. They were demonstrating against the prolonged detention and other persecution of opposition politicians, including Job Sikhala (see below, Arbitrary detention and unfair trials). They were charged with disorderly conduct under section 41 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, and released from custody on various dates between 5 and 24 July.

On 23 August, security force agents arbitrarily arrested about 40 staff members of the civil society organizations the Election Resource Centre and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network. The arrests were connected to the publication of a report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum detailing the electoral irregularities it observed on 23 August. After their arrests, police seized their mobile phones, and forced them to lie face-down for three hours. They were held incommunicado at Harare Central Police Station for two days, denied access to their lawyers or family members in contravention of provisions under the constitution and international standards of fairness. On 25 August, they were charged with contravening section 66 of the Electoral Act as read with the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and released on bail of USD 200 each. The authorities alleged that they had attempted to announce the election results ahead of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s official announcement.

Suspected state agents were responsible for a series of abductions of CCC activists, during and after the election. On 26 August, plain-clothes agents disrupted a CCC conference, and attempted to arrest party spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi. This was followed by a series of abductions, again by alleged state agents, including of city council member Womberaiishe Nhende and his friend Sonele Mukhuhlani who were tortured before being dumped on the outskirts of Harare on 2 September. On 23 October James Chidhakwa was abducted, tortured and injected with an unknown substance; Takudzwa Ngadziore was abducted on 1 November; and Tapfumanei Masaya was abducted on 11 November and his body was found dumped in Cleveland, Harare, on 13 November.

Arbitrary detention and unfair trials

There was impunity for the arbitrary detention and prosecution of human rights defenders, political opposition members and supporters, activists, journalists and others expressing dissenting views. The authorities misused the justice system to silence peaceful dissent.

On 5 April, Fadzayi Mahere, a CCC MP and former party spokesperson, was convicted of publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state under section 31 of the Criminal Law (Reform and Codification) Act and fined USD 500 after she posted a video on social media in January 2021 showing a woman struggling with a police officer while holding a motionless baby. Fadzayi Mahere handed herself over to the police on 11 January and was detained for seven days before being granted bail by a Harare magistrate.

On 28 April, Jacob Ngarivhume, the leader of opposition party Transform Zimbabwe, was convicted and sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment, 12 of which were suspended. He had been arrested in July 2020 for leading and organizing anti-corruption protests in the same month. He was accused of inciting public violence by using his Twitter (now known as X) handle to convene nationwide protests which were ultimately suppressed by security forces. On 11 December 2023, he was acquitted on appeal after spending eight months in prison.

Job Sikhala, former CCC MP for Zengeza West constituency, was convicted by a magistrates’ court on 3 May on “obstruction of justice” charges almost a year after his arrest in June 2022, and ordered to pay a fine of USD 600. On 28 November, he was acquitted on appeal but remained in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare pending his trial on separate charges of incitement to commit violence and disorderly conduct. The charge related to a speech he made at the wake of Moreblessing Ali, who was abducted allegedly by a Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) ruling party supporter in 2022. Her body was found three weeks later.

On 15 August, 40 CCC activists were arrested following an election campaign roadshow in Machipisa in Highfields, a township in Harare. They were charged with contravening provisions of the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act and released on bail on 24 August.

On 4 September, the authorities arrested Doug Coltart and Tapiwa Muchineripi, of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, for advising the police that their clients, Womberaiishe Nhende and Sonele Mukhuhlani, were in poor health and under medical review following their abduction and torture by state agents (see above, Repression of dissent). The lawyers were charged with “obstruction of justice”, released on bail by the Harare Magistrates Court on 5 September and ordered to report weekly to Harare Central Police Station.

Unlawful attacks and killings

Tinashe Chitsunge, a CCC activist, was reportedly stoned to death by ZANU-PF cadres in Glen View South, Harare, on 3 August. He was believed to have been attacked while trying to flee from a ZANU-PF mob who were attacking opposition activists at a rally.

CCC activist Vutisani Mushiyi was admitted to Chiredzi hospital after being attacked in the town of Chiredzi South, on 4 August by suspected ZANU-PF supporters. He claimed that he was attacked in retaliation for his refusal to quit as chairperson of the Chilonga Irrigation Scheme in Chiredzi South after a ZANU-PF parliamentary candidate had tried to make him do so.

Right to health

The country grappled with a cholera outbreak, stemming primarily from a severe lack of clean water. As of late September, almost 7,000 suspected new cases were recorded, and by 9 October the death toll had reached 100. Zimbabwe faced recurring cholera outbreaks exacerbated by poverty and inadequate infrastructure.

In the town of Chitungwiza, shortages of clean water forced residents to buy bottled water. Local activists urged the government to intervene, emphasizing the undue strain placed on local authorities to ensure better access to water and the high cost of water-treating chemicals. As the number of cholera cases increased, sewage management problems and ineffective refuse collection posed additional challenges, raising fears that the crisis would worsen with the approaching rainy season.

President Mnangagwa’s pledge during his election campaign in July to implement a nationwide borehole-drilling programme to ensure greater access to clean water, remained largely unfulfilled due to the persistence of historical underinvestment and wealth disparities.

Women’s and girls’ rights

The government failed to take measures to prevent and fully respond to the treatment needs of those suffering from obstetric fistula. Specifically, it did not develop an adequate policy framework or ensure adequate funding for maternal health, despite calls from civil society organizations to do so, and despite the issue being raised in parliament as a matter of national importance.

Gaps in the legal framework relating to access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents persisted. Parliament continued to fail to make the necessary amendments to the Public Health Act to allow health workers to provide sexual and reproductive health services to adolescents without their parents’ consent. In addition, the cost of essential healthcare services proved prohibitive for many women and girls and there was a failure to provide comprehensive sex education in schools.

Teenage pregnancy remained prevalent, with 108 live births per 1,000 women and girls aged between 15 and 19. The government’s pledge to reduce it to 100 per 1,000 women by 2022 was still unrealized in 2023. Maternal mortality remained high, with 462 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the most recent statistics from the UN Population Fund.

Child marriage was common. An estimated 33% of women between the ages of 20 and 24 were first married under the age of 18.

The August election results did not bring any significant improvements to the under-representation of women in decision-making positions. Only six of the 26 cabinet members appointed in September were women. Of the 70 women who stood for election to National Assembly seats, only 22 were successful, compared to 637 men.

Children’s rights

On 19 July, the Children’s Amendment Act No 8 of 2023 was enacted. Positive provisions include the removal of all clauses that refer to anyone under the age of 18 as a young person, defining them instead as children in line with the constitution.