Torture cases on the rise in Zimbabwe

By Lance Guma
02 June 2006

The political violence report for April 2006, by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, makes grim reading. The report produced monthly and documenting cases of politically motivated violence and intimidation shows how government is increasingly relying on torture to deal with its critics. Among other cases documented is the torture of Nixon Nyikadzino, a National Constitutional Assembly activist who, along with eleven NCA demonstrators, was tortured following a protest for a new constitution in April.

Torture victim Gabriel Shumba who now heads the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum in South Africa says it is hardly surprising the government is using this route. The police officers that tortured him were promoted and he said the message from such occurrences is that the perpetrators have the blessing of top government officials. He praised the work of the NGO Forum saying it was very important to document every incident of torture or violence taking place in the country, for possible future prosecution. An added dimension to the work of the Forum is that they submit their reports to the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR).

Students from the country’s tertiary institutions have also been primary targets of the state’s security machinery. Hardly a fortnight goes by without a student leader getting tortured. The Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) also feature prominently in the cases of intimidation and violence against women. During several demonstrations mothers with babies on their backs have been locked up in police cells and detained for several days without food or water. The political tension in the country continues to grow because of a collapsing economy and authorities are responding by trying to either torture or intimidate perceived critics.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has been in existence since January 1998. It groups various Non-Governmental Organisations working in the field of human rights that came together to provide legal and psycho-social assistance to victims of organised violence.