African Commission defers Shumba torture case for the fourth time

By Lance Guma
05 June 2006

Gabriel Shumba’s search for justice at the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) continues to hit one bureaucratic hurdle after another. The Officer in Charge of the Secretariat Omari Holaki wrote to Shumba advising him that his case had been deferred to November this year. It is now set to be considered at the 40 th Ordinary session of the ACPHR at a venue yet to be advised. The lawyer and former student leader is suing the Zimbabwean government for the torture he suffered at the hands of the police while in custody.

It brings to 4 the total number of times the ACHPR has postponed deliberations on the lawsuit. The first time was at the request of the Zimbabwean government but ever since no reasons have ever been offered for the deferrals. Observers feel rights abuses in the country have put the microscope firmly on the African body and this same organization has buckled under political pressure from the influential council of ministers. Newsreel sought comment from Holaki at the ACPHR on why they had delayed the case again. He said they were trying to balance the interests of both parties in the case but insisted Shumba will not be denied any justice that is due to him. Pressed on why the deferral letter did not contain any reasons, Holaki said these would be given to Shumba in due course since he has also requested the same.

On the 14 th of January 2003, Gabriel Shumba was detained in St Mary's, Chitungwiza along with his brother, Bishop Shumba, and MDC Member of Parliament, Job Sikhala. The trio was then moved to Mbare Police station before being moved again to Harare’s Law and Order section. Shumba says he was subjected to electric shocks from electrodes on his genitals, toes and mouth. The police told him, ‘this is the mouth you use to defend human rights.’ Sikhala was beaten up, electrocuted and forced to swallow urine and another noxious liquid during interrogation.

Shumba has since fled the country for South Africa from where he is suing the government at the ACHPR. He told Newsreel the case had passed the first stage known as ‘seizure’ and the second part ‘admissibility’ is what would determine whether the commission could start accepting his medical evidence. The determination of admissibility is what the ACHPR has deferred in the interim.