16 Aug 24 | Africa, News and features, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a deepening human rights crisis ahead of hosting a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) summit on Saturday when its leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has deployed army tanks in townships and launched a major crackdown against dissenting voices, will assume the bloc’s chairmanship.
The escalating harassment of pro-democracy campaigners, human rights defenders, political activists, student leaders and ordinary residents, some of whom have severely been tortured, came with dire warnings.
There is evidence that the state repression was planned at the highest levels within the country’s corridors of power as speeches by key figures sparked off a chain of frightening events.
On 27 June, while addressing his ruling party’s Central Committee, Mnangagwa said “rogue elements” bent on peddling falsehoods and instigating acts of civil disorder before, during and after important meetings would be dealt with “decisively.”
On 31 July, George Charamba, Mnangagwa’s spokesperson told the state run media there was a foreign hand in efforts to destabilise the country, and ominously warned that locals involved would be taught “a lesson.”
“It would appear they haven’t learnt their lessons,” Charamba said. “They should know that the Government is not just willing but is capable of delivering to them a lesson that is handsomely appropriate,”.
It’s the same message that the presidential spokesperson sent out while serving in the same capacity on behalf of former boss Robert Mugabe who was deposed by Mnangagwa in a coup in November 2017.
Following Mnangagwa’s takeover, there was cautious optimism in some circles that Zimbabwe would turn a corner after 37 years of dictatorship, but Zimbabweans found they were in for more of the same: official corruption, state sponsored violence, widespread poverty, unemployment, economic ruin and general decadence in the country’s cities and towns.
Mnangagwa’s recent threats were followed by horrific repression on the ground enforced by terror. Human rights organisations report 165 people have so far been caught up in the campaign to suppress freedom of expression and assembly.
Some of those punished in Mnangagwa’s latest crusade include 25-year-old Namatai Kwekweza, a human rights activist, and three others Robson Chere, the Secretary-General of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), Samuel Gwenzi, the director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Monitors Platform and Vusumuzi Moyo,an artist and sound engineer who were forcibly removed from a plane at Robert Mugabe International Airport by State agents on 31 July.
They were detained incommunicado for several hours and subjected to torture and later taken to court. The African Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders which monitored the case of Namatai, who last year won the inaugural Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize said “the torture inflicted upon her is beyond comprehension: being hit with open hands, clenched fists, wooden planks, and iron bars.”
Other human rights lawyers said Chere suffered extensive injuries that put him at risk of kidney failure and death. The Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights has since said prison officials blocked his medical practitioner of choice from attending to him on 10 August.
The latest crackdown by Mnangagwa’s regime has not gone unnoticed. On 14 August, the United Nations Human Rights Office said it was concerned by reports of arrests, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and political activists in the lead up to the summit.
There are now diplomatic efforts to push Mnangagwa to stop the persecution. The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network has been writing to leaders of countries that will attend the SADC summit voicing concerns.
In one letter dispatched to South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister, the Southern Defenders chairperson, Professor Adriano Nuvunga detailed the repression. He said one person was charged with “public violence” for participating in an anti-government protest five years ago.
Nuvunga said the latest crackdown began on 16 June targeting 78 members of the Citizens for Coalition Change including the party’s interim leader Jameson Timba who were celebrating the International Day of the African Child at a private residence.
He added that that during the arrests, police used baton sticks and fired teargas at the group, resulting in injuries; including an extensive injury to one member which required surgery.
The activists are still locked up. In an interview with Index, Human Rights Lawyer Alec Muchadehama said charges like acting with disorderly conduct in a public place – for which activists like Namatai were tortured – are minor offences that would normally carry at worst a $200 fine.
He added that most of the alleged crimes fall into the category of what are known as miscellaneous offences, such as spitting on someone. For other offences such as accusations of illegal gatherings, police must just disperse gatherings, not cordon off the area and make dragnet arrests. He went on to say that as police know that the arrests are unlawful, hence come up with flimsy charges such as disorderly conduct, criminal nuisance and participating in an illegal gathering to sanitise them.
The human rights lawyer said the first bastion of defence when police act in such an illegal manner is for prosecutors not to take such matters to court.
“One of the greatest disappointments of our time is that prosecutors now take such matters to court as a matter of routine,” said Muchadehama.
Then there are courts who deny people freedom when the alleged minor offences come before them.
“Most of the judgments that have been handed down, I have respectfully disagreed with such judgments,” added Muchadehama.
In an X Space on Zimbabwe’s Human Rights Crisis and the SADC Summit organised by the Resistance Bureau on Wednesday, a former student leader Nancy Njenje who was constantly harassed by state agents and was once arrested and placed in crowded cells where she caught Covid-19 in 2021, said Zimbabwe’s courts have been captured by the ruling regime.
In one recent case, opposition leader Job Sikhala spent more than 500 days in pre-trial detention while facing trumped up charges of incitement to commit violence, disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice charges, with the courts denying him bail.
Njenge said the unfortunate thing about the crisis unfolding in Zimbabwe is that there is no coordinated effort to fight the status quo.
“Zimbabwe is under an institutional capture, we are not just fighting Zanu-PF to go, we are fighting all the institutions that Zanu-PF has captured. We are fighting the police, we are fighting the courts,” Njenge said.
She said people must not leave their struggles in the hands of the opposition but must use protests to express themselves.
In an interview with Index, Tawanda Muchehiwa, who is now living in the UK after fleeing Zimbabwe where he was abducted by state agents and tortured, said Mnangagwa has not changed his bad habits, despite his pretensions. He said Mnangagwa’s regime was desperately trying to prevent the emergence of fresh ideas and progressive thinking.
Unlike others who are languishing in jail after being tortured, Muchehiwa was lucky to get a scholarship to study at the University of Leicester where he graduated with a Bachelor of Law (LLB) last month.
“I was blessed to have good people around me who offered their kindness and support during this challenging time. Their assistance was invaluable in helping me reorganise my life after the brutal ordeal I had endured, allowing me to focus on my studies and healing,” he said.
As Mnangagwa looks for other people to lock up, he is at the same time preparing to roll out the red carpet for SADC leaders for the Saturday meeting.
Calls for the summit to be moved to another venue have been ignored.
One of the parties in South Africa’s governing alliance, the Democratic Alliance said South Africa, as a leading member of the region, must advocate for the summit to be moved to a location that upholds and respects democratic values.
“By abusing state machinery to violate the rights of Zimbabweans, the unrepentant ZANU-PF regime has demonstrated that it is prepared to go to any lengths to violate the law in order to entrench its authoritarian rule. South Africa, and by extension the SADC, have an obligation to hold the Zimbabwean government to account,” the DA said.
“Allowing the summit to proceed under the current circumstances will not only endorse ZANU-PF’s flagrant abuse of international law, but further undermine the principles upon which SADC was established. “South African opposition leader Musi Maimane went on to describe Mnangagwa as an “evil dictator.”
28 May 24 | Africa, News and features, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Two years ago, South Africa was named the most unequal country in the world in a World Bank report. This in a country where apartheid was dismantled 30 years ago. As the country goes to the polls on 29 May, inequality is proving to be at the heart of the debate which is stoking claims that freedom of expression is under threat.
Arthur Shopola, a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Local Government at South Africa’s North West University, says nothing has changed since the World Bank report and that failure to deliver for the electorate is due to ineffective leadership and poor management of public resources, corruption as well as maladministration.
He said South African citizens continue to enjoy some rights brought about by the democratic regime, particularly universal suffrage, but the ballot has not translated into the tangible results that people yearn for.
“Poverty, high levels of unemployment and inequality remain pressing issues for ordinary South Africans,” Shopola told Index.
Crucially, the land question remains unaddressed, he said.
“The right to equality is an area that the state has failed to promote. Also, everyone has a right to access clean water. This is one of the rights that SA has dismally failed. Just recently, over 100 people in Hamanskraal (Gauteng province) were admitted and many died because they were supplied with unclean water. There are many people in various parts of the country who still drink and wash clothes from the rivers. It’s sad,” he added.
Earlier this month, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), released an advertisement featuring the burning of the South African national flag. President Cyril Ramaphosa criticised the advert, telling the BBC: “South Africans are more educated, empowered and healthier than they were under apartheid,” and people must not threaten that progress.
South Africa’s national broadcaster banned the advertisement, sparking outrage among freedom of expression advocates who said it sets a dangerous precedent. They also contended that the Constitutional Court has recognised that the right to freedom of expression is not limited to statements that are moderate and inoffensive, but extends to those that offend, shock or disturb.
DA leader John Steenhuisen, in a speech delivered on 9 May, said the advertisement is the most successful political advertisement in South Africa’s democratic history – with over four millions views online and millions more on radio and TV. He said it symbolises “how South Africa’s flag, Constitution and future would burn to ashes if voters allow destructive populists to seize power”.
Steenhuisen also condemned the banning of the advert.
“This attack on free speech and suppression of the opposition only confirms the urgency of the DA’s warning contained in the ad. The ANC’s clampdown on freedom of speech to protect itself from criticism is but a small foretaste of what is to come under the ANC/EFF Doomsday Coalition, which will burn our flag, burn our democracy and burn our economy to the ground,” he said.
Steenhuisen talked of the hardships that ordinary South Africans now face – the single mother struggling to put food on the table for her children, the unemployed father who has lost his job because the ANC destroyed the economy and the young graduate who has been reduced to begging on street corners.
The alarm over the possible direction of South Africa is not only shared by South Africans in general or the DA in particular. Vitalis Dhokwani, a Zimbabwean living in South Africa since 2018 after fleeing economic ruin back home, said there are tell-tale signs that the country could head in the direction of Zimbabwe. Dhokwani said South Africa is going through what Zimbabwe went through: corruption by political elites, abuse of the law, lack of accountability and transparency. He said there are similarities between Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF, and South Africa’s ANC, both liberation parties who have betrayed promises of independence.
“People’s spending power has gone down and the cost of living has gone up. Health services were free to everyone but now even locals are paying,” said Dhokwani.
“South Africa is going the same way Zimbabwe went: corruption, rampant abuse of power. I really feel you can’t separate the ANC and Zanu-PF. These revolution parties abuse the tag of revolution parties. Just because they liberated the country does not mean they must make themselves rich while the poor get poorer.”
He criticised political parties who blame immigrants for South Africa’s problems. Dhokwani said South Africa is suffering from misgovernance and corruption from the people who were put in office.
“We can’t blame immigrants for failure of councils. How can one blame foreigners on service deliveries from council? Generally most immigrants are not formally employed they do self-employed jobs and some immigrants have even created for employment for locals as jobs are hard to come by,” he said.
In a statement on 6 May, Human Rights Watch said the scapegoating and demonising of foreign nationals by candidates in South Africa’s general elections risks stoking xenophobic violence. The human rights watchdog detailed a number of cases in which South African politicians had promoted hate against immigrants. It said candidates were pushing a narrative not just that migration is out of control, but blaming undocumented migrants for the country’s ills and engaging in xenophobia.
Shopola, the public administration lecturer, said politicians blaming immigrants were embarking on an opportunistic theorisation of the problems facing SA. “It’s a misdiagnosis. My worry with that theorisation is that it is loaded with hatred, not only hatred but self-hate and disingenuousness by those who push the narrative,” he said.
“What is failing is the laws and systems put in place to attend to issues of land, employment and the economy which is still in the hands of the few.”
05 Jan 24 | Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Israel, Opinion, Pakistan, Russia, Ruth's blog, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
Happy New Year – I hope…
Entering a new year typically encourages us to reflect on the past 12 months and consider the impact of what is likely to happen in the next 12. Depressingly, 2023 was yet another year marked by authoritarians clamping down on freedom of expression and harnessing the power of digital technology to persecute, harass and undermine those who challenge them.
Not only did the tyrants, despots and their allies attempt to again crack down on any seemingly independent thought within their own territories, several also sought to weaponise the legal system at home and abroad through the use of SLAPPs. Several EU member states, especially the Republic of Ireland, as well as the United Kingdom have found themselves at the centre of these legal attacks on freedom of expression.
SLAPPs weren’t the only threat to freedom of expression in 2023 though – from the crackdown on protesters in Iran, to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the continuing repressive actions of Putin and Lukashenka, the end of freedom of expression in Hong Kong, the increasingly restrictions imposed by Modi, the latest war in the Middle East and the ongoing attacks on journalists in South America.
My depressing list could go on and on. However, we desperately need to find some hope in the world, so Index on Censorship ended 2023 with our campaign entitled “Moments of Freedom”, highlighting the good in the world so let’s carry on with that optimism. A new year brings new beginnings after all. So let’s focus on the new moments of light which will hopefully touch our lives this year.
Half the world’s population will go to the polls this year. That’s an extraordinary four billion people. Each with their own aspirations for their families, hopes for their country and dreams of a more secure world.
As a politician it should come as no surprise to anyone that I love elections. The best campaigns are politics at their purest, when the needs and aspirations of the electorate should be centre stage. Elections provide a moment when values are on the line. How people want to be governed, what rights they wish to advance and how they hold the powerful to account. These are all actioned through the ballot box.
There are elections taking place in countries significant for Index because of their likely impact on freedom of expression and the impact the results may have on the current internationally agreed norms, including Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, Russia, Brazil, the European Union, the USA and the United Kingdom. And given current events we can only hope for elections in Israel to be added to the list. The list goes on with each election posing different questions and the results having a different impact on the current world order.
Many other human rights organisations will talk about the importance of these elections for international stability, and rightly so. At Index we will focus on what these elections mean for the dissidents, journalists, artists and academics. Our unique network of reporters and commentators around the world will allow us to bring you the hidden stories taking place and will highlight the threats and opportunities each result poses to freedom of expression. As with 2023, 2024 will be a year where Index hands a megaphone to dissidents so their voice is amplified.
The rallying cry for 2024 must be: “Your freedom needs you!” If you are one of the four billion remember that your ballot is the shield against would-be despots and tyrants. It is the ultimate democratic duty and responsibility and the consequences go far beyond your immediate neighbourhood – so use it and use it wisely.
10 Mar 23 | Ruth's blog
Wednesday marked International Women’s Day, an opportunity to reflect upon the role of women in society. In the midst of a war in Europe and global economic crisis it is easy to focus on the immediate, on the current existential crisis, but there is an onus on us to remember what is happening further afield.
On Wednesday for International Women’s Day I addressed students on behalf of the Anne Frank Trust. I highlighted the importance of not only telling women’s stories but also the power of amplifying their lived experiences, wherever they may be. Collectively we all made a promise that this week – and I hope in future weeks – we would seek to tell the stories of the women who have made a mark and ensure that the world knows their names.
I seek to deliver on that promise.
I am proud to be the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, a charity which endeavours to provide a voice to the persecuted, which campaigns for freedom of expression around the world. I work daily with dissidents who risk everything to change their societies and their communities for the better. Men and women. But today I would like to highlight the names of some of those women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the last year for the supposed “crime” of doing something we take for granted every day – using the human right of freedom of expression.
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Deborah Samuel – a student brutally murdered in Nigeria after being accused of blasphemy on an academic social media platform.
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Nokuthula Mabaso – a leading woman human rights defender in South Africa and leader of the eKhenana Commune. She was assassinated outside of her home, in front of her children.
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Shireen Abu Akleh – a veteran Palestinian-American correspondent for Al Jazeera who was killed while reporting on an Israeli raid in the West Bank.
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Jhannah Villegas – a local journalist in the Philippines was killed at her home. The police believe this was linked to her work.
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Francisca Sandoval – a local Chilean journalist was murdered, and several others hurt when gunmen opened fire on a Workers’ Day demonstration.
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Mahsa Amini – a name all too familiar to us, as her murder inspired a peaceful revolution which continues to this day. Murdered by the Iranian morality police for “inappropriate attire”.
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Oksana Baulina – a Russian journalist killed during shelling by Russian forces in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
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Oksana Haidar – a 54-year-old Ukrainian journalist and blogger better known under the pseudonym “Ruda Pani”, killed by Russian artillery, northeast of Kyiv.
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Oleksandra Kuvshynova – a Ukrainian producer who was killed outside of Kyiv, while working with Fox News.
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Petronella Baloyi – a South African land and women human rights defender gunned down while in her home.
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Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi, a Mexican journalist who was the founder and editor of El Veraz. A crime and security correspondent, she received a death threat a fortnight before she was shot. She was killed alongside her colleague Sheila Johana García Olivera
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Vira Hyrych – a journalist for Radio Free Europe’s Ukrainian service, killed by Russian shelling.
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Yeimi Chocué Camayo – an Indigenous women’s rights activist, killed in Columbia when returning to her house.
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Cielo Rujeles – wife of social leader Sócrates Sevillano, shot and killed alongside her husband in Colombia.
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Luz Angelina Quijano Poveda – a delegate of the Community Action Board in Punta Betín, Colombia, murdered at her home.
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Sandra Patricia Montenegro – a PE teacher and social leader was shot and killed in front of her students in Colombia.
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Melissa Núñez – a transgender activist shot dead by armed men in Honduras.
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María del Carmen Vázquez – a Mexican activist and member of the Missing Persons of Pénjamo, murdered by two men at her home in. She was looking for her son who disappeared last summer.
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Blanca Esmeralda Gallardo – activist and member of the Collective Voice of the Missing in Puebla, who was assassinated on the side of the highway in Mexico as she waited for a bus to take her to work. She was searching for her 22-year-old daughter who vanished in 2021.
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Yermy Chocue Camayo – treasurer of the Chimborazo indigenous reservation in Colombia, and human rights defender, killed as she headed home.
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Dilia Contreras – an experienced presenter for RCN Radio in Columbia, shot dead in a car alongside her colleague Leiner Montero after covering a festival in a local village.
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Edilsan Andrade – a Colombian social leader and local politician, shot and killed in the presence of one of her children.
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Jesusita Moreno, aka Doña Tuta – a human rights activist who defended Afro-Colombian community rights. Facing threats against her life, she was assassinated whilst at her son’s birthday party.
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Maria Piedad Aguirre – a Colombian social leader who was a defender of black communities, violently murdered with a machete; she was found at home by one of her grandchildren.
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Elizabeth Mendoza – social leader, was shot and killed in her home in Colombia. Her husband, son and nephew were also murdered.
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María José Arciniegas Salinas – a Colombian indigenous human rights defender, assassinated by armed men who said they belonged to the Comandos de la Frontera group.
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Shaina Vanessa Pretel Gómez – who was known among the LGBTIQ+ community for her activism, including work to establish safe spaces for homeless people and a passion for the arts, was shot dead early in the morning by a suspect on a motorbike.
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Rosa Elena Celix Guañarita – a Colombian human rights defender was shot while socialising with friends.
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Mariela Reyes Montenegro – a leader of the Union of Workers and Employees of Public Services was murdered in Colombia.
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Alba Bermeo Puin – an indigenous leader and environmental defender in Ecuador was murdered when five months pregnant.
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Mursal Nabizada – a former female member of Afghanistan’s parliament and women’s rights campaigner murdered at her home.
This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination. Compiling the names and profiles of women who have been killed as a result of their right to exercise freedom of expression is almost impossible, not least because of the nature of the repressive regimes which too many people live under. But every name represents thousands of others who day in, day out put their lives at risk to speak truth to power. They were mothers, grandmothers, daughters, nieces, granddaughters, sisters, aunts, friends, partners, wives.
To their families, they were the centre of the world. To us, today, their stories bring fear and inspiration in equal measure. They are heroes whose bravery we should all seek to emulate.
