In Zimbabwe, Vital Medicines in Short Supply as Coronavirus Stalls Imports – The Zimbabwean

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Jocelyn Chaibva points to locally made hand gel at her pharmacy in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ Zimbabwe

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — At a pharmacy in the Fife Avenue Shopping Center in Zimbabwe’s capital city, patrons roam the store looking for masks, sanitizers and latex gloves.

Stocks have improved in recent weeks, but customers still leave empty-handed because prices have doubled.

Stocking a pharmacy in Zimbabwe was difficult long before the threat of the coronavirus shut down the country on March 30.

Zimbabwe has so far confirmed 56 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and four deaths.

The country relies on India, China and South Africa for nearly all of its medical supply imports, which include drugs and medical consumables such as personal protective equipment, syringes and catheters.

Pharmacist Liberty Zibako says it’s not the lack of hand sanitizer he’s worried about. He says he has many customers who rely on him for blood-pressure and cholesterol medications. With the border to South Africa closed and air traffic to the country severely limited, he’s out of stock.

“I have a number of customers who have been looking for high-blood-pressure drugs like Diovan and atorvastatin for cholesterol, but l no longer have them in stock,” he says, adding that he used to keep large quantities on hand. But after nearly eight weeks of lockdown, his supply has dwindled to nothing.

The lack of those two drugs in particular is leaving many customers vulnerable, Zibako says.

High blood pressure and coronary heart disease are among the leading causes of death in Zimbabwe.

“I do not know when I will be able to restock,” he says.

Zimbabwe’s ongoing economic crisis has left millions jobless and suffering under crippling inflation.

From grocery staples to lifesaving medications, Zimbabweans rely on regional and international imports and informal traders who bring goods across borders for survival. And the coronavirus lockdown has only exacerbated the shortage of basic goods here.

Zimbabwe is not alone in relying on international imports for pharmaceuticals. There are just 375 pharmaceutical manufacturers on the African continent, mostly in northern Africa, for a population of more than 1.3 billion people. By comparison, India has more than 10,500 drug manufacturers and a population of roughly the same size, according to 2019 research by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.

Zimbabwe, which once manufactured drugs locally, now buys 80% of its medicines and drugs from India, according to a 2019 report from the minister of Health and Child Care.

“Our situation is more fragile because we are so reliant on the rest of the world,” says Dieter Balzer, managing director of KDB Healthcare, a pharmaceutical supplier in Zimbabwe. “Before we used to pick up a phone to talk to someone in South Africa, and they would deliver to you what you need. But this is not the case anymore.”

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the country’s reliance on imports, says pharmacy owner Jocelyn Chaibva. She is unable to stock in-demand drugs and high-quality personal protective equipment.

“The future is blurred,” she says. “But we are driven by faith that we can get back on our feet and restart when all this is over.”

Gamuchirai Masiyiwa, GPJ, translated some interviews from Shona.

Debate Over Exhuming Controversial Colonialist from Sacred Site Continues – The Zimbabwean

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MATOBO, ZIMBABWE — People come to the Njelele shrine inside a sacred cave on the southwestern edge of Zimbabwe’s Matopos National Park for many reasons.

Unmarried women travel to it hoping to find matrimonial luck.

Politicians come in hopes of winning votes.

Couples struggling to conceive visit to ask their ancestors for help.

Local lore says the shrine even has the power to bring rain.

Tourists come en masse too.

Amid the beauty and power of the shrine and its surrounding Matobo Hills lies a piece of Zimbabwe’s troubled history: the remains of Cecil John Rhodes.

Cecil John Rhodes, a controversial political figure in Zimbabwe, is buried in Matopos National Park, where foreign tourists pay $15 to enter the park and an extra $10 to view the gravesite. Many Zimbabweans want Rhodes’ remains gone.

Vimbai Chinembiri, GPJ Zimbabwe

Rhodes was a controversial 19th-century British businessman, a colonial politician, the founder of the Rhodes scholarship and namesake of the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Rhodes was buried here in 1902 – and Evelyn Chiunya, a custodian of culture and history at the Njelele shrine, wants him out.

She is part of a growing chorus of Zimbabweans who want to exhume Rhodes’ body.

Rhodes’ legacy is tethered to Zimbabwe’s complicated history between black and white Zimbabweans.

Calls for his exhumation date back to the early 1980s as Zimbabwe emerged from colonial rule, says historian Phathisa Nyathi. As land owned by British settlers was seized by the new government and given to black Zimbabweans, people began calling for Rhodes’ exhumation too.

As a tourist site within Matopos National Park, his grave is legally protected under the jurisdiction of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe. For now, authorities have closed the gravesite to tourists in response to the coronavirus. But this temporary closure hasn’t paused the debate over whether to exhume Rhodes’ remains and send them out of the country.

Howard Ncube (left), a tour guide, shares afternoon tea with a British couple atop the Matobo Hills World’s View site. His historical lesson about the life of Cecil John Rhodes includes a description of how the businessman interacted with locals.

Vimbai Chinembiri, GPJ Zimbabwe

Many remember him as a ruthless businessman and colonialist. He founded the De Beers diamond firm, and some historians say his efforts to change laws about voting, land ownership and employment to favor South Africa’s white minority fueled the apartheid movement that began in the mid-20th century. The presence of his gravesite here fuels intense debate about whether the remains of a man perceived to have exploited black Africans for immense wealth belong in today’s Zimbabwe.

Pritchard Zhou, CEO of the Zimbabwe Heritage Trust, is leading the movement to exhume Rhodes. Zhou, 70, says the presence of his remains at Matopos National Park, often known by local residents as Matobo National Park, is an assault on the history and beliefs of Zimbabweans, who suffered torture and abuse from colonialists.

“Rhodes wanted to defile that place; this is why he decided to be buried there,” Zhou says. “Now, our children go there to look at a white man’s grave.”

The movement to exhume Rhodes’ remains is building. An activist group known as Sangano Munhumutapa led the rallying cry. The #RhodesMustFall movement in neighboring South Africa inspired a wave of requests and helped spur an online petition that has collected 212 signatures to date.

Butholezwe Nyathi, regional director for the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, sympathizes with calls for exhumation on the grounds of culture and dignity. “The most important thing for now is to reinterpret the narrative,” he says. “The monument should be used to tell the story of the evil nature of colonialism, taking away a people’s cultural fabric.”

Tourists make their way to the Rhodes gravesite, also known as World’s View, at sunset. It’s popular with German and British visitors as well as local primary school children on educational visits.

Vimbai Chinembiri, GPJ Zimbabwe

Not everyone agrees with the exhumation movement. Misheck Dube, 80, has lived in Matobo all his life. While he doesn’t approve of Rhodes’ choice of burial site, he wants the country to move on. Dube believes Rhodes was buried there after locals performed certain rituals to appease the ancestors.

“He had a good relationship with the Ndebele chiefs; he cannot have been buried just like that,” he says. “If we exhume him, we risk angering the ancestors or annulling an agreement we have little insight into.”

In his will, Rhodes named Matobo Hills as his preferred burial site. Locals call the hill where Rhodes lies “Malindadzimu,” a Kalanga-language word meaning “where the spirits rest” or “the burial place.”

Despite the ongoing calls for exhumation, there is no political will to support it, Nyathi, the historian, says.

Former President Robert Mugabe was against exhuming Rhodes, suggesting that he was paying taxes through tourism while lying in that grave, Nyathi recalls.

The new government, which ousted Mugabe and took power in 2017, isn’t likely to support exhumation either.

“I do not think any of these calls will be entertained in this new political landscape in Zimbabwe,” Nyathi says. “I do not see Rhodes being exhumed.”

Effie Moyo decorates curios, such as handmade bowls, to sell to tourists who come to Matobo. All of Moyo’s children and extended family are trained in this craft.

Vimbai Chinembiri, GPJ Zimbabwe

More than 32,000 people visited the Rhodes gravesite in 2018, about 4,000 more than the previous year. Foreign nationals made up 17% of visitors in 2018.

Zimbabweans pay 40 Zimbabwean dollars (ZWL) ($1.60) to enter the national park and an additional 25 ZWL ($1.00) to see Rhodes’ grave. Foreign nationals pay $15 for admittance and an extra $10 to view the site.

Steady income and tourism to the site motivates some locals to support the gravesite.

Effie Moyo, 69, sent two of her children to boarding school by selling curios to British and German tourists near Rhodes’ grave. One of her children guides tours.

“I do not want to hear this nonsense about exhuming Rhodes’ grave,” says Moyo, who settled in the area a year after Zimbabwe established independence from colonial rule in April 1980. “Matobo will be poor. The people who are pushing this agenda are not even from this community.”

The balancing rocks at Matobo Hills have been associated with early human occupation, around the Stone Age.

Vimbai Chinembiri, GPJ Zimbabwe

Others say the grave should be left alone and the country should just move forward.

“Exhumation is being reactive; we are just being angry,” says Godfrey Mahachi, executive director of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe. He believes Rhodes’ gravesite and the National Heroes Acre in Harare, where liberation war heroes are buried, together tell a more complete story about the country’s colonial past. “We owe it to the next generation to have access to this sad chapter in our history.”

Zimbabwe’s land reform areas twenty years on (3) – The Zimbabwean

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This blog focuses on Masvingo’s villagised land reform areas (where people have an individual arable plot, live in villages and share communal grazing). Our sites (N=99) are nearby the self-contained schemes in Gutu and Masvingo districts discussed in the last blog in this series, and they share many similarities, with a focus on maize production, combined with horticulture. There are fewer who are accumulating significantly, but there are still many who are doing well.

Households in these sites are slightly younger, with the average age of the household head being 43, and there are fewer women who are the main household head (19%), although 41% of households have a de facto female head due to absent husbands. Today, 47% of household heads have off-farm jobs (some quite informal and part-time), such as trading or being builder), down from 67% earlier. 59% of household heads went to school beyond Form II, while 26% have Master Farmer certificates. Many households (58%) have children in the age range 21-30, and 35% of households have adult children who are out of the country earning money, while 27% have children who have established farms, including through a number of subdivisions (only 2% of households had family members who had gone to other resettlements). While overall, these areas have been successful, there were around 10% of the original sample who had left, mostly returning to communal areas, and the farm had been abandoned, or taken over by another settler.

Average maize production across the 99 households in our survey ranged between 1381 kg and 986 kg in the years between 2017 and 2019, with between 26% and 41% producing more than a tonne. Around 85% regularly applied inorganic fertiliser, and nearly everyone used manure. Maize was combined with some other crops, including groundnuts, some millet, and a few starting up cotton production again after a hiatus due to poor prices. However, as in the nearby self-contained areas, the main income-earning in addition to maize was horticulture, with a third of households earning income from selling vegetables. The average figures hide the variations, however, and there is a significant minority (around a quarter) who are struggling to make ends meet.

Some households, through strategic investments, particularly in water management are increasing production significantly. Mr and Mrs MN, for example, had expanded their home garden plot and had invested in two 5000 litre tanks, and fenced their plot, surrounding their garden and new houses. It looked like a self-contained plot in a village, and intensive horticulture production was being pursued. This combined with maize production in the field around a kilometre away. For some years they had been combining life in nearby Masvingo town with farming in Wondedzo Wares, but had recently decided to commit full-time to farming. Mrs MN explained:

When we first got this plot, we were still living in Masvingo. I had a dress-making business and my husband was in the private transport business, having given up his job as a butcher at TM supermarket in 2008 when the economy was in dire straits. I used to travel as far as Durban selling wedding clothes, bedspreads and cushion covers that I had made. We came once a week, and we had someone here looking after the plot and the cattle, which had grown to a herd of six last year. The guy who we had employed left for South Africa last year, and we decided to move here. We had been investing in the place for some years: boreholes, pumps, fencing and so on. The irrigation system has been in place since 2013-14, but not really working. Now we are going into full production, and I can continue to do wedding dress hire from here, and my husband has his car and can do local transport. We have also got a poultry project, which is building up. We will grow maize, but rainfed production is very risky these days because of the climate, so we are concentrating on irrigation in our home field.

On average households in the villagised A1 areas in Gutu and Masvingo districts owned six head of cattle, and 31% had sold one in the past year, and 23% had sold milk. Informants commented that there was a limit to how many animals could be held because of lack of grazing and most held under ten. Most households balanced cattle sales (for investment, school fees or emergency costs, such as medical fees) with building the herd, and 34% had purchased cattle in the last five years. This meant that 69% used their own cattle for ploughing. However 23% had no cattle at all, and were struggling on all fronts.

On average, because of this more stark differentiation compared to the self-contained areas, the level of farm employment was lower, with 16% employing men permanently and 3% women, and there was more of a focus on temporary employment, with around a third of households regularly employing both men and women for particular tasks. Given that a sizeable group did not have sufficient draft power and did not employ labour, the practice of collective work parties was more evident in these areas, with around 40% of households holding them.

Farm production is combined with a range of off-farm sources, including remittances (48% of households), trading (20%), piece work on others’ farms (27%), welfare payments (35% – for the old, sick, disabled or orphans) and pensions (19%). Quite a few were also making use of natural resources for selling products or making crafts. This was a rather different mix of activities to that seen in the self-contained areas. With a group of perhaps a quarter of households with limited assets and low production, they had to make ends meet across a range of low-skilled and poorly-remunerated activities, including selling labour locally (mostly to other richer A1 farmers). Remittances, pensions and welfare payments featured strongly as complements to agriculture.

As Mrs V explained from Lonely farm, fortunes can change quite dramatically:

We came here originally in 2000 with four cattle. By 2017, we had over 30, but then a terrible disease struck our animals and we lost many. We only have 17 now. Now we don’t have the surplus of milk and meat we had before. That year too, my husband passed away, and we are not doing so well, even though my sons help. We now produce only about a tonne of maize, but before we used to produce four or five tonnes each year, and sell to the Grain Marketing Board. We have access to a vlei (wetland) and it produces good crops, including vegetables, and we have a pump and sell the produce. There’s a huge market when the AFM (Apostolic Faith Mission) gathers. If you are well organised, you can make a killing! In those days we bought scotch carts, ploughs and built our homes. We employ labour from the nearby communal areas, and pay them in cash or kind. Even though we were old, we were doing well! Kids went to boarding school, then colleges and universities. Our quality of life had improved massively.

Even if not on the scale of those in the self-contained resettlements, around half of the sample were regularly producing surpluses and investing, ‘accumulating from below’. Many were selling food to nearby communal areas, or exchanging for labour. In the past five years, 36% of households had bought ploughs, 26% had dug boreholes (especially for vegetable gardens), 17% had bought cars and 50% had invested in solar panels. In other words, a highly differentiated population is observed – some doing well, others less so. For the next generation, subdivision of land is important, as is education in order to find jobs, often abroad.

Several informants commented on how things are developing within the area:

We don’t have to go to Chatsworth now. There are shops here, and a grinding mill. There’s a clinic at Bath farm, and since we are near the communal area, there are other shops and there’s a mini-township there that’s sprung up to service the resettlement area. Things are coming up because of land reform.

People are building beautiful houses here. Even better than town. People have electricity from solar, and some have even connected to ZESA; all paid for by irrigation and selling vegetables. When we came here we had to buy drinking water, but now nearly everyone has a borehole. In our local township there were originally no shops, but now there are nine grocery stores, two bottle stores/bars, two butcheries, two welding shops and two grinding mills.

However, several also commented on declines in environmental conditions. The large vlei at Lonely is drier than it once was, and everyone complained of poor and variable rainfall. Soils are not as good as they once were, and investing in improvements – digging infiltration pits, establishing boreholes and careful ploughing to conserve soil – are all important.

By comparison with the more remote self-contained areas where access is difficult, the state is more present in the A1 villagised areas. There is now a clinic, a school and there is a visible presence of extension workers, vets and others. “Yes, the government has helped us”, one informant explained. What they were wanting though is greater clarity from the government on who is in charge. One informant exclaimed:

We are confused, everything is not functioning. The chiefs are fighting over the land, and the MP is not helping. Some people support Chikwanda, others support Musara. Plots are allocated by different chiefs, and we have competing authorities. We marched to Masvingo a few years ago, and demanded that the district administrator sort things out. This was disturbing development, as conflicts occur. Conflicts are a problem: we have to go to meetings nearly every day!

Overall though over 20 years, conditions have improved, and life is easier than it was when the land was invaded, with facilities and connections improved. With the villagised set-up on the surface these areas look more like the communal areas – but with larger land areas, production is higher and the possibilities for accumulation and investment are there. Unlike in the communal areas where good houses are the result of jobs and remittances, in the resettlements, investments come from farming, making agricultural marketing crucial. When asked about the next 20 years, most people said that if it rains, things will be fine, but if not then irrigation, zero grazing and fodder feeding of animals will be essential. This they said will make it easier to share small areas of land with the next generation, which is a continual concern a generation on from land reform.

This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland. Led by Felix Murimbarimba, the Masvingo team is: Moses Mutoko, Thandiwe Shoko, Tanaka Murimbarimba, Liberty Tavagwisa, Tongai Murimbarimba, Vimbai Museva, Jacob Mahenehene, Tafadzwa Mavedzenge (data entry) and Shingirai, the driver. Thanks to the research team, ministry of agriculture officials and the many farmers who have supported the work over the years.

Post published in: Agriculture

Abduction, torture of activists: Are Zimbabwe’s dark days back? – The Zimbabwean

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Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa speaks with journalists outside a hospital in Harare on May 15, 2020. PHOTO | AFP

In Summary

  • In March, the US blacklisted Zimbabwe’s State Security minister Owen Ncube over allegations that he ordered security agents to abduct and torture government critics.
  • Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania Anselem Sanyatwe was also blacklisted for allegedly directing soldiers to shoot protestors during demonstrations after the 2018 elections.
  • In their strongest rebuke since President Mnangagwa took over, church leaders said mistreatment of critics had reached alarming levels.

Zimbabwean authorities are fighting an image-damaging incident in which three female opposition activists were reportedly pulled from a police station and tortured.

The three women had staged a protest against food shortages that had worsened by a six-week lockdown to fight the coronavirus.

The beatings were so bad that mainstream opposition party, the MDC Alliance, appealed to the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for protection, saying its members are under siege.

The three, Zimbabwe’s youngest MP Joan Mamombe, and Cecilia Chimbiri as well as Netsai Marova, who are leaders of the opposition MDC Alliance’s youth wing, were found two days later dumped by the road 80 kilometres north of Harare.

Western embassies on Wednesday called for a swift investigation into the alleged abduction while urging the political protagonists in Zimbabwe to deescalate the tensions.

“The perpetrators of heinous acts of this kind and other human rights violations need to be identified and prosecuted,” the embassies said in a joint statement signed by envoys from the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Norway and Switzerland.

CRITICISM

In their strongest rebuke yet of President Emmerson Mnangagwa since he took over in 2017, church leaders said abductions of government critics had reached alarming levels.

“It is deeply disturbing that the country has seen so many cases of abductions in the last few months, most of which have not been conclusively investigated,” the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) said.

At least 50 opposition and civic society activists have been abducted and tortured since President Mnangagwa won a controversial election two years ago.

Initially the government blamed the abductions on an alleged third force comprised of disgruntled security agents from the previous Mugabe regime, but of late the authorities dismiss them as stunts by the opposition to attract the attention of the international community.

The latest incident, however, has alarmed even some of President Mnangagwa’s staunchest supporters, including some of his advisers.

“We must end these bizarre abductions and inconclusive investigations into these cases,” said Busisa Moyo, a presidential adviser.

“The state is responsible for the welfare of citizens,” Mr Moyo added.

Another presidential adviser, Shingi Munyeza, apologised to the opposition activists whom he said were victims of an evil system.

Mr Munyeza, who is part of a panel established to advise the president after his controversial election, has been using social media to denounce the government for human rights violations.

Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Alliance leader, appealed to the international community to intervene in Zimbabwe saying President Mnangagwa was using the Covid-19 induced lockdown to crush the opposition.

Last Saturday, the Zimbabwean leader said the country would be on a lockdown for an indefinite period as it was yet to deal effectively with the Covid-19 outbreak, but the opposition said it was an excuse to rule by decree.

The MDC Alliance has since written to the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of punishment, Nils Melzer, asking for an investigation into the abduction of the activists.

“This particular abduction is not isolated as the MDC Alliance has recorded 49 abductions by state agents outside the latest case since August 2019,” wrote Gladys Hlatshwayo, the party’s secretary for external affairs.

SCOT-FREE

“In January 2019, 17 women were sexually assaulted by members of the military.

“These violations are happening with impunity as no investigations are carried out and perpetrators are not held to account.”

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), a quasi-government body, called for investigations into the mounting cases of abductions.

Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s deputy director for east and southern Africa, said it was strange for Zimbabwean police to deny reports that they initially arrested the tortured activists.

“It is deeply alarming that the state claims that it never had the women in custody when they were arrested at a roadblock run by both the police and the military,” Ms Mwananyanda said.

Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe said he had ordered the commissioner-general of police to launch an investigation to “establish what transpired, who did what, and the motive behind the actions.”

In the past two years Zimbabwe’s security forces have been accused of abducting and torturing government critics following protests over the deteriorating economic situation in the country.

Abductions and enforced disappearance of government critics were also common during Robert Mugabe’s reign.

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Zimbabwe COVID-19 Lockdown Monitoring Report22-23 May 2020 – Days 54-55 – The Zimbabwean

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Excerpts from reports generated by Community Radio Harare have also been incorporated into this report.

3.0       Emerging issues 
            3.1       General updates
According to a report published by the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, the government is running out of COVID-19 test kits resulting in a huge backlog of thousands of untested laboratory samples countrywide. According to the report, the government had targeted to test 40 000 people by the end of April, however, as of 23 May, only 36 538 tests had been conducted. It was further reported that the National Micro-Biology Centre at Sally Mugabe Hospital in Harare is grappling with mounting samples which have not been tested for the past 7 days.

In Harare, illegal foreign currency dealers have re-surfaced in the CBD around Fifth Street, Main Post Office and Market Square bus terminus. Most of the foreign currency dealers operating in Harare CBD use fake exemption letters to circumvent checkpoints. Due to travel restrictions, illegal foreign currency dealers have also surfaced in most shopping centres around Harare. At OK Supermarket in the Marimba suburb of Harare, for example, illegal foreign currency dealers were spotted with mounds of the recently introduced ZWL10 notes.

It has been reported that up to 20 Beitbridge residents have had police dogs set on them since the lockdown began on 30 March. A nurse at Beitbridge District Hospital confirmed that 20 people had been treated for police dog bites during the lockdown period. It was also reported that some police officers in the town are demanding bribes in exchange for freedom. Residents identified police officers from the K9 unit who drive a Toyota truck. One of the victims, Tafadzwa Mukutiri has since filed a report against the police. However, Matabeleland South police spokesman Chief Inspector Philisani Ndebele has denied that any such reports of police brutality and corruption have been received by the police during the lockdown.

                  3.2       Right to food and water
According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), the cost of living in Zimbabwe skyrocketed by ZWL324 to ZWL7 171 at the end of April, primarily due to limited supply of basic products as well as panic buying by consumers because of the lockdown. A survey conducted by the CCZ showed that the cost of living for a family of six shot up by 4,74% to ZWL7 171 in April. The prices of most basic commodities in the period under review registered an increase of over 100% which saw prices of 10kgs of mealie meal increase from ZWL80 to over ZWL180. The increase in the cost of living has gone beyond the monthly incomes of the majority of citizens which hardly go beyond ZWL3 000. Further, most families have not received any income for the past 52 days as a result of the COVID-19 national lockdown.

According to reports received from Muzarabani, mealie meal shortages have resulted in the price increase of the commodity. Most shops which still have the commodity have resorted to exclusively selling mealie meal in foreign currency. Meanwhile, community members in Muzarabani indicate that they are yet to receive subsidised mealie meal from the government.

In Bulawayo’s high-density suburb of Lobengula, most retail shops were pricing their commodities exclusively in USD. Community members are still battling with water challenges. In Imbizo, it was reported that tapped water is available for three days a week. People with private boreholes are selling 20 litres of water for ZWL2,50. Similar reports of massive water cuts have also been reported in Makokoba. It was reported that the water challenges have resulted in chaos at community boreholes and water bowsers being provided by the Bulawayo City Council and other private players.

Rural communities in Matabeleland have expressed concerns over the transport costs incurred in receiving food handouts from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. According to reports published by the Habakkuk Trust, beneficiaries of food aid are required to pay costs towards the transportation of maize. Due to the unavailability of government transport, vehicles are hired to ferry the maize from the Grain Marketing Board depots to distribution centres, and recipients share the cost. In Matobo District beneficiaries are paying between 20 to 30 South African Rands for every 20 kg bag of maize received while in Insiza and Tshololotsho community members pay ZWL10 and ZWL30, respectively. The transport costs are out of the reach of vulnerable households which include the elderly, disabled, and orphans.

3.3       Mandatory testing and quarantine
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana indicated that Treasury released ZWL7 million for renovations of Ekusileni COVID-19 Isolation Centre in Bulawayo. Mangwana also reported that there are currently 114 ex-convicts quarantined at Bulawayo Polytechnic College while United College of Education in Bulawayo, 105 female returnees.

Manicaland Province received twenty-one (21) returnees from South Africa on 22 May 2020. The returnees are quarantined at Magamba Training Center which is a designated COVID-19 isolation centre. It was also reported that three (3) returnees from South Africa absconded from Mary Mount Teachers College quarantine centre. When police officers visited their given addresses, they discovered that the addresses were false. The security forces currently are looking for them.

Mosi oa Tunya quarantine centre in Victoria Falls received 11 returnees through the Victoria Falls Border Post, bringing the total number of people quarantined on the centre seventy-one (71).

According to reports, close to 200 people who are quarantined at Masvingo Teachers’ College indicated that they are over-crowded, the food is bad and they are hardly given updates regarding their tests. It was reported that their tests were collected on 15 May. However, they have not received their results or any updates to date.

On 23 May, it was reported that Zimbabweans quarantined at Belvedere Teachers College in Harare staged a demonstration against a government requirement for them to each pay a mandatory fee of USD65 to get tested for COVID-19 for them to be cleared. However, according to the High Court order in the case of Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights versus the Minister of Health and Child Care and Others, it is the responsibility of the government to increase screening and testing, therefore, the government should bear the cost of such tests.

At Selbourne Primary School in Belvedere in Harare, it was reported that returnees quarantined at the institution complained of the lack of adequate blankets and food. Some of the returnees do not have beds and they are forced to sleep on the floor.

            3.4       Re-opening of academic institutions  
Zimbabwean universities will be re-opening from 1 June, but only final year students will be allowed on campus, with the rest learning remotely using virtual and distance education. According to Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Professor Amon Murwira, by 21 May, all universities had submitted reopening plans to the Ministry. Speaking to the Harare Bureau, Minister Amon Murwira said universities would reopen under World Health Organisation guidelines. Professor Murwira said, “We have agreed on a general date of 1 June. This is when every university should start blended learning. In the first phase, only final year classes are expected to be receiving face-to-face learning, while others use online learning. We did this to allow social distancing on campus”.

In preparation for the reopening of schools, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education held a consultative workshop in Bikita at Silveira Mission School and Pamushana High School on 23 May. Chemistry teachers at these schools were also taught on how to make sanitisers while textile design and technology teachers, were taught on how to make re-usable face masks.

4.0 Abduction update
It was reported that there is a heavy deployment of law enforcement agents around the hospital premises where MDC Alliance Harare West Member of Parliament Honourable Joana Mamombe and Youth Assembly leaders Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova are receiving treatment. According to the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, the trio broke the law in that they led a demonstration amidst the lockdown regulations that prohibit demonstrations. Therefore the trio is wanted by the police so that they can be interviewed on why they broke the law. Ziyambi addressing Parliament on 21 May indicated that the trio is not co-operating with police officers, but seem to be happy to be in the hospital.

5.0       Attack on journalists
In Waterfalls in Harare, two (2) journalists Frank Chikore and Samuel Takawira were arrested by the police whilst conducting their duties on 22 May. It was alleged that the journalists had been working on a story related to the abductions of the MDC Alliance trio that was abducted last week. It was reported they were detained in custody at Harare Central Police Station where they were charged with breaching section 11 (b) of Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020 by allegedly not complying with the directive of police officers not to interview the trio. Frank Chikore and Samuel Takawira appeared at Mbare Magistrates Court on 23 May for bail proceedings and were remanded in custody to 26 May for ruling.

6.0       Summary of violations
The table below summarises human rights violations documented by the Forum Secretariat and Forum Members from 30 March to 23 May 2020.

7.0       7th Anniversary of the Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013
22 May 2020 marked the 7th anniversary of the Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013. In March 2013, the majority of Zimbabwe’s voters voted through a national referendum for the nation to adopt the Constitution. The Constitution was designed to be an improvement of Zimbabwe’s governance and democracy, compared to the state of affairs under the Lancaster House Constitution which previously governed Zimbabwe.The Forum is concerned by the flagrant disregard by law enforcement officers of the fundamental rights that are protected in the Constitution with impunity.  These violations existed before and have continued during the national lockdown. Even with a period of national disaster having been declared,  constitutional rights remain sacrosanct, and certain rights remain inviolable, such as the right to life and the right not to be tortured or subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment.

8.0    Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Petition on police brutality and impunity
The Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Mrs Jestina Mukoko presented a petition on the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, and the Commissioner-General of Police. The petition raised concern by the Forum on gross human rights violations taking place in the country and perpetrated by the police.  Permanent Secretary Mr Aaron Nhekera received the petition of behalf of the Minister and police spokesperson and assistant Commissioner, Paul Nyathi received it on behalf of the Commissioner General.
In the petition the Forum expressed outrage over the assaults, excessive use of force, abductions and torture of citizens by the police, which is going unchecked by relevant authorities.     Police brutality and impunity has continued even in the time of the national lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic.   In particular, the Forum demanded the following in the petition:
i.          That the Commissioner-General of Police forthwith commences a full and thorough criminal investigation to establish what transpired in the abduction and torture of Joana Mamombe, Cecelia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, and that the outcome of such investigations be released for the benefit of the general public, including regular progress updates;
ii.         That the perpetrators of the abduction and torture of Joana Mamombe, Cecelia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova be identified and fully prosecuted in terms of the criminal laws of Zimbabwe;
iii.       That the Commissioner-General of Police fully investigate without fear and favour the circumstances of the unlawful arrest and assault of Nokuthula Mpofu and Ntombizodwa Mpofu;
iv.        That perpetrators of the unlawful arrest and assault of Nokuthula Mpofu and Ntombizodwa Mpofu be identified and that applicable disciplinary and criminal measures be instituted;
v.         That the Commissioner-General of Police conducts full and thorough investigations into all outstanding reported cases concerning police excessive use of force by the police on citizens and ensure accountability of perpetrators;
vi.        That the Commissioner-General of Police conducts full and thorough investigations into all outstanding reported cases of abductions and torture, with a view to ensure accountability by perpetrators and access to justice by victims, and to break the cycle and trend of abductions and torture that threatens and safety and security of the citizens of Zimbabwe; and
vii.       That the Commissioner-General of Police and the Honourable Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage institute remedial reforms within Zimbabwe

9.0       Court Update
On 16 May 2020, Tafadzwa Mukutiri was arrested and coerced to pay a fine of ZWL500 for violating the lockdown regulations. However, Mukutiri was unlawfully assaulted with baton sticks by police officers identified as Sergeant Wafawanaka and Constable Shoko during the course of the arrest. As a result of the unlawful assault, resident Magistrate of the Beitbridge Magistrates Court, Mr Toyindepi Zhou, ordered the police to reverse Tafadzwa Mukutiri’s admission of guilt fine due to accusations of gross human rights violations by police officers. This followed an application by Mukutiri’s lawyer Jabulani Mzinyathi of Garikayi and Company, who argued that the fine was paid under duress.

On 23 May 2020, two journalists Frank Chikowore and Samuel Takawira appeared before Magistrate Manase Masiiwa at the Mbare Magistrates Court following their arrest on 22 May 2020.  They were accused of contravening section 11(b) of SI83/2020. It is alleged that whilst filming and interviewing Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova at Parktown Hospital, the two failed to observe the social distancing rule between themselves and the victims.

The matter was postponed to Tuesday 26 May 2020 when a determination of their bail application will be handed down.

10.0     Conclusion
From the reports received by the Forum over the last 7 days, members of the public are abusing the eased lockdown regulations as they are not taking heed of calls for social distancing, putting themselves and other people at risk of COVID-19 infections. The Forum, therefore, calls on community members to observe social distancing.

As of 19 May, over 25 returnees have absconded quarantine centres nationally. Considering that the majority of recent positive COVID-19 confirmed cases in Zimbabwe relate to returnees, returnees who are absconding quarantine centres have become a risk factor for the spread of COVID-19. The Forum, reiterates the importance of security at COVID-19 isolation centres nationally.

The increasing numbers of attacks on journalists discharging their duties and reports of excessive use of force by the police in enforcing lockdown regulations, still remains a matter of great concern. The Forum reminds the government and law enforcement officers to respect the freedom of the media and to allow journalists to carry out their duties unhindered. The Forum also urges the relevant authorities to take action to curb police brutality and impunity during the lockdown period and beyond.

Dolly Parton and the gun rape – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – The Zimbabwean

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href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/49929778931/sizes/m/”>https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/49929778931/sizes/m/ 

Mtetwa said the victims were clearly targeted ‘in the most despicable of ways’ to dissuade young women from engaging in politics outside the ruling party. Addressing General Valerio Sibanda as head of the defence forces, she said that if soldiers were involved he was as responsible ‘as if you held that gun that was used to simulate sexual intercourse’.

Turning to Police Commissioner General Matanga, she said the women had been stopped at a roadblock manned by uniformed police and taken to the central police station where they were released to unknown third parties, ‘The buck stops with you on how arrested persons were unlawfully removed from your premises by abductors and torturers’.

Taunting the State Security Minister, Owen Ncube, Mtetwa said scornfully that if his agents were not involved he should at least look as if he cared. ‘You can even resort to a few fall guys, who will take the can and be pardoned thereafter as has happened many times before.’ (See: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/beatrice-mtetwas-open-letter-to-president-emmerson-mnangagwa/).

Mtetwa’s scepticism about justice in Zimbabwe seems to have been borne out by the reaction of Justice Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi who, when questioned in Parliament, said the three women had broken the law by taking part in a demonstration and violating the lockdown rules and were wanted by the police for questioning. He added that they seemed very happy in hospital (see: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-185781.html).

One of the women is quoted by the Zimbabwe Mail as saying: ‘They ordered us to sing a song, saying that we are going to stop leading demonstrations. Whenever we stopped they would beat us under the feet and on our legs. We were put in shallow holes in the middle of nowhere. They gave me the nickname Dolly Parton as they took turns sucking my breasts. They forced us to drink our urine and then stripped me,” she said of her ordeal in between sobs. ‘I thought they were going to rape me. They then shoved a gun into my private parts.’ (See: https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/main/eu-us-lobbies-for-mnangagwa-opposition-talks/.)

Subsequently a senior official of the Artuz teachers’ union, Moreblessing Nyambara, said she had been beaten up by suspected state security agents in Domboshava over a video she posted on social media protesting at the abduction of the three MDC women (see: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/05/artuz-leader-tortured-over-video-of-mdc-abductees/).

Western Heads of Mission in Zimbabwe have issued a statement insisting that Zimbabwe meet its international human rights obligations. They demanded a swift, thorough and credible investigation into the abduction and torture of the MDC women and urged a constructive dialogue between government and opposition (see: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/local-statement-on-human-rights-situation-in-zimbabwe).

Other points

·       The authorities have stamped down on a free feeding charity used by hundreds of hungry children and desperate adults in the Harare township of Chitungwiza. It was run by a lawyer Samantha Murozoki from her home but she has now been ordered to stop because the project did not ‘meet minimum requirements for a feeding kitchen’.

·       Some good news: ROHR’s Mtoko Irrigation Project in aid of women living with HIV/AIDS in rural Zimbabwe has had its first harvest. Well done to the Mtoko women and to all our Vigil activists who contributed to the fundraising for this project. For photos see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/albums/72157714435421202.

·       Prisons in Zimbabwe are short of Zanu PF inmates so former police chief Augustine Chihuri would be a welcome addition. But somehow we doubt it will result from the Prosecutor-General’s High Court application for an order compelling Chihuri to explain what happened to US$ 32 million he is said to have diverted for his own use (see: https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/ex-zimbabwe-police-chief-accused-of-embezzling-32m-of-public-funds/).

·       Everyone knows that if you are Zanu PF you can get away with anything. Particularly if you are Mnangagwa’s son Tarirai. He is accused of threatening to shoot a Zesa employee sent to record the electricity meter reading at his farm in Norton, west of Harare. Tarirai apparently fired into the air and said his farm was ‘State House and protected place’ (see: https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/mnangagwas-son-in-gunning-totting-storm/).

·       This abuse of the state by the elite is increasingly recognised by the international community as a major problem. The EU’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Timo Olkkonen, said budgetary support for Zimbabwe’s bankrupt government was not under consideration, citing ‘massive misuse’ of public funds (https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2020/05/15/eu-refuses-to-fund-corrupt-zim-admin/).

·       Because of the coronavirus we can no longer physically meet outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London, so we have started a virtual Vigil. We asked our activists to put on Vigil / ROHR / Zimbabwe regalia and take a photo of themselves holding an appropriate poster reflecting our protest against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. The photos are uploaded on our Flickr site.

·       For Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

 

NOTICES:

·       The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.

·       The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.

·       Facebook pages:

Vigil: https://www.facebook.com/zimbabwevigil

ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/Restoration-of-Human-Rights-ROHR-Zimbabwe-International-370825706588551/

ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

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Cases of torture in Zimbabwe: Six years after the Torture Docket case – The Zimbabwean

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It is true that in the African continent, ethnicity is a dreaded term because of the continent’s experience with ethnicity- or tribe-based inter-group animosities and conflicts that, in some countries, morphed into genocides. (Zinyange Auntony/AFP)

Torture, one of the most horrendous violations of a person’s human rights, appears to have become a sad reality of life in Zimbabwe. Over the past week there has been international coverage of the abduction and gruesome torture of three opposition party youth leaders. The International Court of Justice considers the prohibition of torture as a “peremptory norm”, a norm of international that is binding on any country in the world without requiring a state’s consent or enactment as domestic law. Nevertheless, torture remains a common practice in many parts of the world.

Looking at this from a South African perspective, the May 2020 incident in Zimbabwe  reminds us of the groundbreaking 2014 Constitutional Court decision in National Police Commissioner of the South African Police Service v Southern African Human Rights Litigation Centre Trust (The Torture Docket case) where the court held that the South African authorities — the South African Police Service (SAPS) and National Prosecution Authority (NPA) — had a duty to investigate and prosecute international crimes allegedly committed in Zimbabwe. The judgment by the Constitutional Court specifically referred to crimes against humanity of torture. As torture appears to be a growing issue in Zimbabwe, we have to reflect and ask: What is the current status of those investigations, six years after the Constitutional Court judgment?

How can South African authorities prosecute alleged crimes committed in Zimbabwe?

The short answer is that they can use the principle of universal jurisdiction which allows states to prosecute certain international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity or torture without having a link of territoriality or nationality to the country where the alleged crime occurred.

States have interpreted this principle in different ways. While South African legislation adopted an approach which requires accused persons to be in the country, other countries such as Germany have adopted a broad interpretation of this principle without any pre-conditions.

On this basis, the German trial against two former Syrian Security Members for crimes against humanity committed against Syrians in Syria commenced at the end of April in Koblenz, Germany. The principle of universal jurisdiction is a key element in order to bring these kinds of cases before domestic courts outside the state where the alleged crime occurred. However, even if domestic law allows the initiation of such processes, cases from the past show that there is an intrinsic inertia of state authorities to act.

Investigating Zimbabweans for crimes committed against Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe

In the Torture Docket case, the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) challenged a decision by the SAPS and the NPA not to investigate crimes against humanity of torture that had allegedly been committed in Zimbabwe. Under the International Criminal Court Act, South African authorities may prosecute individuals for crimes committed outside South Africa if the accused person is present in the territory.

Yet from a legal perspective, the stage of prosecution and investigation differ substantially. This raises a major question, relating to the Torture Docket case, of how to apply the principle of universal jurisdiction in the stage of investigation.

In a landmark decision, the Constitutional Court held that the SAPS and NPA have a duty to investigate torture as a crime against humanity based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. The court, however, set up pre-conditions that must be met in such a case: (i) that the country where the alleged crimes occurred is unable or unwilling to prosecute; and (ii) that there must be an “anticipated presence” of the suspect in South Africa.

Where do we stand after six years of investigations?

While cases such as the Torture Docket case constitute significant steps in the fight against impunity, the obvious question is: What progress has been made after six years? Today, SAPS are still investigating the alleged cases of torture in Zimbabwe from 2007, even though the Constitutional Court emphasised the importance of time in its judgment:

“There has already been an inordinate delay in this matter, in large parts due to the tardiness on the part of the NPA and the SAPS in processing the request (…) An expedited investigation is of paramount importance as the unearthing of evidence may become more difficult with time. Constitutional obligations must in any event be performed diligently and with undue delay.”

Acknowledging that the prosecution of international crimes might take longer than ordinary cases due to the massive amounts of evidence, six years of investigations hardly constitutes an “expedited investigation”. The lethargy which SAPS has displayed in this investigation is disappointing.

The tardiness of the NPA should, however, also not surprise us. Twenty years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission submitted more than 300 cases of alleged apartheid-era crimes for further investigation to the NPA. Even though some of these cases may qualify as torture or crimes against humanity, victims, relatives and friends are still waiting for prosecutions to be initiated. The apartheid-era cases demonstrate that disappearing evidence constitutes a serious threat to any prosecution and search for justice.

Although the national director of public prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, stated in November 2019 that the NPA would consider how to “utilise the legal framework to be more creative in even perhaps charging apartheid as crime against humanity”, it remains to be seen whether the NPA is serious about prosecuting international crimes such as the Torture Docket or apartheid-era crimes. There is no question that the Constitutional Court judgment was a good starting point, but the reality six years later suggests that we are still at the same point.

Leading to places where traditional state authorities would otherwise not go

Cases such as the Torture Docket case or the recent trial in Germany for alleged crimes against humanity in Syria underline the importance of civil society and survivors in the process of building those cases.

As SALC pushed for an investigation of crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe in the Torture Docket case, the commencement of the trial in Germany can be attributed, to a large extent, to the research and analysis of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights. These cases highlight that the principle of universal jurisdiction has become a useful tool to hold perpetrators of international crimes to account.

In the interest of seeking truth and justice, these types of cases send the clear message that there is no safe haven for perpetrators of international crimes. When such atrocities occur, they do not only shake the consciousness of the people of Syria or Zimbabwe, but the consciousness of humanity.

On this basis, there can be no exclusive jurisdiction by one state to prosecute, but a universal jurisdiction of any willing state.

Atilla Kisla is a senior researcher for the Southern Africa Litigation Centre’s International Criminal Justice Programme

Zimbabwe: Church leaders condemn abduction of politicians – The Zimbabwean

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The women: Joana Mamombe (MP for Harare West), Cecilia Chimbiri (MDC Alliance Youth Assembly Vice-Chair) and Netsai Marova (Deputy Organising Secretary of the Youth wing) had taken part in a peaceful protest against the government’s Covid-19 lockdown which was put in place without support for the poor.

In a strongly-worded statement released this week, the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) to which the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) is a part, denounced the abductions. They also drew attention to the brutal assault of two Zimbabwean women in the country’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, on 16 April at the hands of six police officers.

“Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) has received with shock and disbelief the news of yet another abduction and inhuman treatment of three young women including a Member of Parliament. This comes only some few days after the barbaric physical assault of two women, Ntombizodwa and Nokuthula Mpofu, of Cowdray Park, Bulawayo by six police officers. It should be stated that the reports suggesting that Harare West Legislator, Joana Mamombe and her colleagues Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova were taken from police custody, and were tortured and sexually assaulted and inhumanely treated by yet to be known agents point to something that is against the heart of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the various International Conventions to which Zimbabwe is a signatory and, above all, to our cultural norms and our fundamental Christian beliefs regarding the sanctity and dignity of life,” said Zimbabwe’s Church leaders.

“First, it is deeply disturbing that the country has seen so many cases of abductions in the last few months, most of which have not been conclusively investigated. What is further disturbing are the insinuations, from some state agents, that all these abductions arc either stage-managed or carried out by an unrecognisable ‘third force’ without substantiating such claims with credible and irrefutable evidence. This constitutes the denigration of responsibility of the highest order on the part of government,” said the Church leaders.

ZHOCD has called for a full investigation. They condemn the ill-treatment of women as a whole, particularly, “in 2020 when the whole world is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, which was a global high point in recognition of the dignity of women after centuries of patriarchal domination and treatment of women as second class citizens of the world.”

Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East and Southern Africa, condemned the abduction of the three MDC female politicians. She said: “Zimbabwe has a history of enforced disappearances, with some activists having gone missing for years now. Many activists have been tortured in police custody, despite denials by police.”

Since 2019, more than 50 social and political activists have been abducted and tortured by unknown persons. In September 2019, Dr Peter Magombeyi, President of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, who was campaigning for better working conditions, was abducted, beaten, tortured and later dumped by the roadside. He survived the ordeal. (At the beginning of this year, hospital doctors in Zimbabwe earned justunder $200 a month.)

Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister, Kazembe Kazembe has ordered the Commissioner-General of Police to institute a full-scale investigation into the abduction of the three female MDC leaders. He said the Commissioner-General should “establish what transpired, who did what, and the motive behind the actions.”

Zimbabwe’s Church leaders under the ZHOCD have pledged to continue offering pastoral support, comfort and protection to all victims of abductions and brutality.

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Zimbabwe Welcomes Removal of Its Banks from US Sanctions List – The Zimbabwean

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However, the ruling ZANU-PF party is calling for more from the U.S. and other Western countries that imposed the sanctions in 2002.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gave Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe and Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe a clean bill of health. Mthuli Ncube, the country’s finance and economic development minister, could not hide his joy over the news to reporters in Harare.

“Of course, any removal of any institution, especially a financial one, is very positive indeed,” he said. “This will help the bank access credit lines and remove any restrictions that pertain to KYC — know-your-customer — challenges, which is really what happens when a bank is on the spotlight, the way they were. Now that they [sanctions] have been lifted, the banks will find it easier to do business going forward. So this is a very welcome development indeed.”

Tafadzwa Mugwadi, the director of information in the ruling ZANU-PF party, said the party is not satisfied, though President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s efforts to reengage the West are bearing fruit.

“We are not happy as long as part of these sanctions, the major parts of these sanctions are still in place,” Mugwadi said. “Our position as ZANU-PF is that the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe from the United States of America have no place in this civilized world, so that the people of Zimbabwe can fully realize their full potential without any hinderances, so that the government can be measured on the basis of its capacity without these hinderances, without sanctions in place.”

The U.S. and several Western countries and institutions, like the European Union, imposed sanctions on some state institutions and some senior party officials in 2002 following reports of election rigging and human rights abuses. Harare blames the sanctions for the country’s moribund economy, while critics blame bad government policies for causing the economy to catch a cold.

People queue for cash at an ATM which dispensed the new Zimbabwean ten-dollar notes, in Harare, May 20, 2020. The higher denomination bank note was introduced to help ease perennial shortages of cash in the country.

Rejoice Ngwenya, an independent political commentator, said the U.S. may have lifted sanctions on the two banks to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic but ruled out giving in to ZANU-PF demands.

“The present government has not shown any appetite for reforms. Given their response to the abductions of the [opposition] MDC Alliance youth leaders, it would be really unlikely that the local American embassy recommend removal of any political leaders, unless those political leaders are targets of possible liberal reform,” Ngwenya said.

The U.S. Embassy in Harare was not immediately available for a comment.

Earlier this month, three members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party were allegedly abducted and tortured after taking part in a protest demanding that the government pay those affected by the ongoing coronavirus lockdown. The government has said it is investigating the matter.

Zimbabwe Detains 2 Journalists for Breaking COVID Lockdown Rules – The Zimbabwean

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Paidamoyo Saurombe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who is representing journalists Frank Chikowore and Samuel Takawira, said Saturday the magistrate court would hold the men until it makes a bail ruling Tuesday.

Paidamoyo Saurombe, of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told reporters in Harare, May 23, 2020, that it was disturbing that journalists were being arrested for doing their job. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)

“It is disturbing. These are journalists who were in the course of what they should do when they were arrested. So, it is quite surprising.  Why would you arrest someone who is going to work? You never know. It becomes scary that if you are arrested while going to work, what else will happen?” Saurombe asked.

According to court papers, the two journalists broke COVID-19 regulations when they entered a hospital to interview three members of the political opposition who were being treated for injuries sustained after being abducted and tortured by suspected security agents.

Dewa Mavhinga, the southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said Harare must drop the charges against the journalists.

“Failure to do so severely undermines any image of Zimbabwe as under a new dispensation and reaffirms the sense that Zimbabwe is now a pariah or rogue state that is not respectful of the rights of journalists, of the constitutional rights to the freedom of the media. There is need to ensure that journalists, in the course of [the performance of] their duties are free to do their work without fear that the police will arrest them without cause,” Mavhinga said.

Zimbabwe’s minister of information, Monica Mutsvangwa, told VOA that she would only comment on the matter after the courts have completed the case.

Tabani Moyo, who the Media Institute in Southern Africa in Zimbabwe, called it an assault on the country’s press.

“Journalism is in the line of fire. There is a daily threat when you are a journalist in Zimbabwe. For us to defeat this pandemic – we have said it again and again – all hands should be on the deck, focusing on the pandemic rather than pointing in a misplaced manner at what is presumed to be the weaker targets; that is the media,” Moyo said.

Rights groups say they have recorded 14 cases of harassment of journalists and nearly 300 cases of citizen assaults by Zimbabwe authorities since late March when the government imposed a lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.