Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe

PRESS STATEMENT: ROHR ROARS AGAINST MUGABE  

In an extraordinary government gazette Robert Mugabe declared that 24-26 July will be a period for all Zimbabweans at home and abroad to 'renounce and report all forms of political violence, in an effort to ‘restore peace and stability in the country'. Therefore the days have been declared National Peace days for renouncing political violence and promoting national healing. At a glance the idea seems to be noble and peculiar, but subjected to further scrutiny the context of the call ebbs all the confidence we had in the sincerity of both the office and the person of President Robert Mugabe.  

ROHR Zimbabwe is horrified at the dishonesty of the inclusive government and has no faith in the genuineness of Robert  Mugabe’s initiative in declaring 24 – 26 July national peace days. ROHR will be taking to the streets tomorrow (24th July) to protest against this cover-up and demand truth, justice and transparency from the inclusive government. 

Below is ROHR’s commentary on the government’s new initiative. 

Firstly for peace to prevail in any given nation, the state should be totally transformed into a safe house for every individual. The powers of the state to carry extra-legal mandates such as militia and para-militia activities against its people should end. The state should lead its citizenry and fulfill its duties under the spotlight of sacrosanct values, ideas and legal instruments that ensures that the bill of rights is elevated to a supreme position that becomes the campus of how the populace and the state interact.  

This has not happened in present day Zimbabwe, because that the police, state intelligence and other arms of the executive are still carrying out extra-legal activities with impunity. The people of Zimbabwe’s safety remains severely endangered.  

That we are coming from a dark age of reprisal and state sponsored human rights violations and organised state acrimony on those holding dissenting views is undisputable. What is dismissive from our side is an attempt by the present day government to create symbolic days and moments in our country where by the people, region and the international world are misled to believe that the incumbent is whole heartedly moving the country from the abyss of terror towards a glimpse of light and peace.   

Peace in its totality is a function of political will and maturity on those who are holding public office and the people of Zimbabwe at large believing that proper mechanisms of truth and reconciliation have been met. Only after those who were grieved acknowledge that restorative measures have been done and those who would have committed acts to terror acknowledging that they violated other people’s rights could peace as a concept be fully recognized. Mr. Mugabe cannot be the agitator of violence and define peace at the same time, as if he holds the rod of making the rule as he goes. 

One will be forgiven to imagine that the person who boasted of degrees in violence not so long ago, can easily sublimate the ‘ideas’ of war and the funning of violence in a blinker of an eye. We remain cognizant of the need for national healing, but at the same time the concept of national healing should be holistic by mainly addressing the following fundamental issues:
·         The state should be separated from political parties, that is to say, Zanu PF should disband its infrastructure of violence and its proxies. This is in light of the tidal wave of violence which erupted at the Rainbow Towers, instigated by the ZANU PF hoodlums and buttressed by its public relations outfit, Zimbab0we Broadcasting Cooperation.
·         The uniformed forces should start to behave accordingly with the spirit and letter of co-existence to ensure that lasting peace is equally attained.
·         The state broadcaster should desist from funning hate speech and lies aimed at prejudicing the public against civil society organizations and other political parties apart from ZANU PF.     
·         The state should immediately cease harassing human rights and political detainees within and without the Zimbabwe prisons.
·         ZANU PF should demobilize and disarm the militia, the proxies of violence that are still active since the acrimonious epoch of political terror that claimed more than 180 lives and displaced thousands in 2008.
·         Known perpetrators of violence must face the law regardless of political affiliation and rank in society.
·         The state should immediately stop violence happening at the farms and respect the ruling made by the SADC tribunal disputed of farms in 2008. 

Put differently, peace can never be wished into existence by mere words and public relations stunts as the Organ on National healing, Reconciliation and Integration would have the nation believe. The stark reality is that peace will remain elusive in Zimbabwe as long as the political parties are only as prepared as to condemn violence through the media yet leave institutions and infrastructures of violence in position for further instructions. Furthermore war veterans continue to be violent with the protection of the police and the public broadcaster as evidenced by the recently disrupted conference at rainbow towers hotel. The reports made by MDC of violence against its supporters even after the advent of the inclusive government are equally worrying. Without taking concrete steps towards restoring the rule of law, disbanding militia camps, and other recommendations stated above, the call for observing three days to ‘celebrate Zimbabwe’s newfound peace and unity’ remains what it really is – a bluff!  

Important Note: ROHR Zimbabwe invites you to wear black attire on 24 July to protest the eclipse of peace in Zimbabwe and to remember our fellow countrymen who lost lives, property and homes in the political violence that preceded the June 27 sham elections.  

Press Release

The most colorful display of the constitutional discord was witnessed on Monday 13 July when delegates at the “All stakeholders” conference saw the petal of confusion, deception and violence cascading down to the center stage, effectively blowing the runway light bulbs when the constitutional plane was just about to land. The level of disorganization and the consequential impression emanating from the just landed indaba fails to justify the commitment and faith placed by relevant stakeholders in the parliamentary led constitutional initiative. 

ROHR Zimbabwe is a huge supporter of people driven and democratic processes and therefore stands opposed to the current process led by the parliament. Article 6 of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which gave birth to the parliamentary steered constitutional process makes a mockery of the constitutional reform process in Zimbabwe as it relegates civil society to an observer role with little influence while awarding the primary political parties ample room and opportunity to manipulate the document for political gain. It preclude other political players from participating and reduces civil society to mere spectators with an insignificant muscle to manoeuvre meaningfully.

Albeit predictable, the disruption of the Indaba by hired ZANU PF thugs is a statement not only of the fact that the former revolutionary party  has not yet repented, but that politicians see the constitution as yet another bargaining tool of sealing deals of the interparty negotiations that began in 2007. Installing the usual infrastructure of violence at the starred hotel facilities to disengage any gears of progress casts serious questions on the wisdom of bestowing an exercise of this importance in the hands of politicians, particularly these primary parties currently involved in tugs and negotiations for political grip in the government. Obviously the drafting of the constitution is yet another tool necessary to create and/or strengthen party stake in the Government in preparation for the impending elections. We seriously question their credibility to be at the forefront of this agenda. 

ROHR Zimbabwe firmly believes that any reform of the Zimbabwe constitution should be people driven and not parliamentary driven. The secretive nature of political negotiations gave birth to the controversial draft doctored at the resort town of Kariba in September 2007, and the GPA in September 2008, both of which are political deals kept away from public scrutiny and participation to the detriment of popular input. There is little doubt that the insertion of Kariba draft in the parliament led process as referenced in article 6 of the GPA is a well orchestrated campaign by the primary negotiators to protect their political interests. If the draft is to be used as the basis for constitution-making in the country, Zimbabweans will be denied their right to write a constitution for themselves. The draft is seriously flawed. It sneaks in weak aspects of the current constitution and that of the rejected constitutional commission draft that was reject by the people in 2000, thereby producing an unacceptable government with unchecked executive powers, a weak parliament, and inadequate protections for fundamental rights and freedoms.

Therefore Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe reiterates its position that we will not participate in the process in its current form because we believe it is not people driven and runs the risk of political manipulation. By stating the following ROHR Zimbabwe is only reiterating the position we took in 2008 and the views expressed in the People’s Charter that the people should be allowed to write their own constitution in a free, transparent and participatory way and this can be achieved through creating an independent inclusive All Stakeholders Commission to run the process.  

Furthermore our non-participation approach stems from prior knowledge of President Mugabe and his colleagues in ZANU PF  who pride on a culture and history of violence and politics of coercion in the agency of youth militia, ex-combatants and the passive or active cooperation of national institutions such as police, army and Central Intelligence Organization. Despite his verbal commitment to power sharing in a coalition Government with MDC, Mugabe is yet to demonstrate  policy and attitude shift from this culture and the recent disruption of the constitutional conference only strengthens this fact. What we observe is Mugabe’s continued intransigence as shown by his keenness to ignore all stakeholder rejection of the Kariba Draft which we all agree fails to protect anything else except enormous and sweeping powers for the President while underplaying the importance of checks and balances derived from judicial independence and strength of parliament.

As a progressive movement, we will not stop anyone who wants to participate or observe the proceeding of the constitutional process led by the Parliamentary Select Committee. Our position will however remain as that enunciated before that ROHR Zimbabwe will not participate in a process we do not believe will produce the result necessary to solve current constitutional and human rights challenges that catalysed Zimbabwe into a gigantic human rights furnace, exposing her citizenry to the worst economic and social dragons unprecedented in the history of the nation. 

Justice for all of us, the will of the  people shall prevail

From the information Department of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe