Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe

ROHR Zimbabwe held another capacity building and leadership development workshop on Friday 7 August 2009 at Charles Austin Theatre in Masvingo. Delegates from the nine constituencies making up the Masvingo province attended the workshop which was stirred into life by key presentations from Public Information Rights Forum (PIRF), the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and NANGO. 

Mr. Cornelius Chigome from PIRF chronicled the most violated rights in Zimbabwe in his presentation on the human rights situation in the country.  He attributed the violations to the willful disregard of the rights and freedoms of people that are guaranteed in the current Zimbabwean constitution. He bemoaned the lack of political will from ZANU PF to uphold the right to life. Innocent lives continue to be lost even well after the war of the liberation struggle for political expediency and material gain as in the case of the Gukurahundi massacre in which over 20,000 people were killed by the Korean trained 5^th Brigade, 200+ opposition members killed by ZANU PF supporters and state agents in the violence which preceded the June runoff elections and another 200 lives of illegal diamond miners lost in the Marange diamond fields executions done by the army. 

Mr. Chigome further slammed ZANU PF officials for victimizing humanitarian NGOs which are feeding half the population following the disastrous land redistribution which brought the agricultural sector to its knees when commercial farmers were driven out of their farms by war veterans and ZANU PF militia. The right to shelter was mentioned as among the worst human rights right violations in the country, following the state authored Murambatsvina (Clean up) in 2005 which left vulnerable 700 000 families when their homes and livelihoods were demolished. A culture of corruption,  rampant abuse and mismanagement of state resources  by government officials  has made it possible the denial of the general public’s right to health, education and access to anti retroviral drugs for people living with HIV& AIDS. 

Mr Chigome further went on to state that the Mugabe led inclusive government is still battling to guarantee the right to information, expression, association and assembly. The culture of impunity continues unabated, journalists and human rights defenders face harassment and intimidation from the state. The state broadcaster continues to withhold information from the public choosing instead to pour lies and hate speech in obvious attempts to propel ZANU PF party interests. The fragile coalition government faces threats from lack of press freedom and is still haunted by the closure of independent private owned newspapers which were deemed hostile to ZANU PF’’ said Mr Chigome. 

Speaking on behalf of the National Constitutional Assembly Councilor Daniel Muchuchuti expressed his suspicions on ZANU PF’s engagement in the constitutional making process. ”There are some people that are convinced that ZANU PF is reformed and they are hopeful that engagement with it will produce reforms beneficial to the people of Zimbabwe. But I would like to remind them of the person we are dealing with and history is very clear with examples. 

Daniel Muchuchuti warned the delegates representing various organizations of the danger of buying into a ZANU PF plot, which is bent on manipulating the constitution making to scuttle the progressive forces that are fighting for the democratization of Zimbabwe. 

After the day’s deliberations the delegates from the Masvingo province came up with the following resolutions:
·         The issues relating to justice, compensation were captured in the ROHR Zimbabwe founding objectives therefore ROHR should champion and advocate the three broad steps to national healing that is TRUTH, JUSTICE AND COMPENSATION (support for victims of political violence in Zimbabwe)
·         People should be allowed to write their own new and democratic constitution and never allow the politicians of the day to impose it upon them. A truly independent all stakeholders commission should be allowed to spearhead the process of constitution making and we believe it is not too late for that to be achieved. ROHR subscribes to the draft resolutions of the second people’s convention held at the Aquatic complex on 27 July 2009. The delegates reaffirmed their support for National Constitutional Assembly towards their unwavering resolve of working towards a truly people driven constitution since formation in 1997.
·         The delegates rejected the imposition of the Kariba draft constitution which rewards the presidency with executive powers at the expense of legislative and judicial strength and independence. 

Report prepared by Ronald Mureverwi

For photos check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/