Regional church leaders say Mugabe regime has lost legitimacy

By Violet Gonda
10 July 2007

The Solidarity Peace Trust, a church-based non-governmental organisation, launched a new report on the crisis in Zimbabwe on Tuesday stating there has been increasing state repression against dissenting voices in Zimbabwe. The church leaders said the ruling party has also lost much of its political legitimacy. The Trustees of the Solidarity Peace Trust are church leaders of Southern Africa, who are committed to human rights, freedom and democracy in their region.

Selvan Chetty the Deputy Director of the Trust said: “This report carefully documents the systematic attacks of the state on the leadership and members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Chance (MDC) and the civic movement. It also explains the dual motive of this state violence which was, firstly to seriously disable the structures of the MDC before the 2008 elections, and secondly to criminalise it on the basis that the MDC is a "terrorist" organisation.”

Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenberg in South Africa who chaired the launch meeting in Johannesburg said they analyzed over 400 incidents of violence and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe since March, and noted a deliberate strategy by the regime to attack the Morgan Tsvangirai-led formation while showing leniency to the Arthur Mutambara-led formation of the MDC “in order to exacerbate the existing tensions between the two groups.” He said 90% of the attacks investigated showed law enforcement agents as the perpetrators.

The group said the increase in the number of violations in private homes and public spaces, and the attacks on civic and political leaders indicate a clear intent to both destroy such structures, and spread a general atmosphere of fear throughout the country.

Bishop Dowling said: “We believe more and more people are beginning to see that this is an illegitimate regime which uses torture and all kinds of horrible human rights abuses to cow the population, to crush people’s spirit and to prevent legitimate dissent.”
The report concluded that that violent response by the state to dissent is not an occasional feature of state politics in Zimbabwe, but the central form through which the Mugabe regime conducts its relations with the country’s citizenry.
The group said there is a growing consensus that the SADC mediation represents the best opportunity in finding a solution to the Zimbabwean crisis, but hoped regional leaders have the political will to foil any obstructive tactics by the Mugabe regime.

The report will be made available to embassies, regional leaders and the international community. Bishop Dowling said: “It’s all part of our advocacy and that’s why we have Professor Brian Raftopolous now as director of analysis, research and advocacy component in The Solidarity Peace Trust, to lead this kind of critical research on our behalf.”