Record levels of assault, abduction and torture reported in Zimbabwe

NGO records hundreds of cases of political violence, which it says are mostly perpetrated by state security forces

An anti-government protester during a demonstration in Bulawayo in July. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Simon Allison-Friday 28 October 2016 

Political violence in Zimbabwe has increased dramatically in 2016, with record levels of assault, abduction and torture recorded as opposition to Robert Mugabe’s 36-year rule escalates.

Around 654 cases of political violence were recorded by a local NGO, the Counselling Services Unit (CSU), as of 21 October, compared to 476 cases in the whole of 2015.

The CSU found that assaults were overwhelmingly perpetrated by the state’s security forces – including police, military and the secretive Central Intelligence Organisation – while opposition supporters and civil society activists had been on the receiving end of the increasingly violent treatment.

One activist interviewed by the Guardian, Ostallos Gift Siziba, a student protest leader at the University of Zimbabwe, said he was abducted by state security agents in August and taken to the headquarters of Zanu-PF, the ruling party, where he was hung from the ceiling by his feet.

“It is at this time that I experienced brutal, callous and inhumane treatment,” he said. “I was tortured and assaulted with my feet hanging upwards and my head downwards as 21 youths and men exchanged chances to beat me until I passed out.”

Siziba said his interrogators demanded information about other human rights defenders, and claims at one point he was dangled over a large drum of sulphuric acid.

Siziba was then transferred to the Harare central police station, where the beatings continued. “At this instant I had lost a lot of blood and I was still bleeding. I was injured in almost all parts of my body. I was denied water, and the right to call my parents, a lawyer, or anyone. I received no treatment and had to become my own doctor,” he said.

Siziba’s experience tallies with testimonies from other victims, indicating that it is not just the frequency of political violence that is on the rise, but the severity too.

Others victims reported being injected with unknown substances during interrogations, kept in solitary confinement, and subjected to sexual threats.

Frances Lovemore, the director of the NGO, said the allegations of torture had become increasingly shocking.

“The injecting unknown substances during torture is of concern, as is the abduction of relatives of human rights defenders when the target cannot be found. The sheer force of the beatings by the police, resulting in long bone fractures and life-threatening soft tissue injuries, is reminiscent of the previous violent responses by the state and ruling party when opposition parties were deemed a threat to power,” Lovemore said.

Lovemore’s NGO provides medical and rehabilitation services to survivors of organised violence and torture in Zimbabwe. The statistics are a record of people who have sought medical and counselling assistance from the organisation, and therefore provide an indicative rather than complete picture of political violence in Zimbabwe. The real number of incidents of political violence is likely to be even higher.

Popular resistance to Mugabe, the 92-year-old president, has intensified this year before the presidential election scheduled for 2018. Opposition has been increased by a severe drought, which has left millions hungry, and a cash shortage that is disrupting businesses and has left the government struggling to pay wages. 

CSU’s statistics show that of the 654 incidents of political violence recorded, the vast majority occurred in Zimbabwe’s two largest cities, Harare (334 incidents) and Bulawayo (92), both of which have become centres for the recent wave of political opposition.

The CSU found that 45% of victims were of indeterminate political affiliation, and of those with clear links to the opposition movement, more than 52% were supporters of the official opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T).

Obert Gutu, MDC-T’s spokesperson, responded to the findings by saying the ruling Zanu-PF’s regime had “over the years routinely targeted MDC supporters for assault, torture and intimidation”.

He added: “We are the largest and most popular political party in Zimbabwe and the regime is acutely aware of the fact that we command massive support throughout the length and breath of Zimbabwe. Hence, the regime has always targeted our supporters for victimisation.”

Linda Masarira, a former National Railways employee turned independent political activist, also suffered at the hands of the Zimbabwean police. She was arrested on 6 July and charged with engaging in violent demonstrations, and spent 84 days in jail before being released on bail.

She says she experienced constant physical and psychological abuse while in detention, beginning on the day of her arrest.

“I was the only female person that had been arrested, made to sit between male people’s legs [on the prisoner transfer vehicle]. They were touching me all over. Police were poking me with baton sticks. They try to take away your dignity and self-esteem,” she said.

After leading a protest by prisoners against the poor conditions of the Chikurubi female prison, she was moved to the notorious Chikurubi maximum security facility, usually reserved for male prisoners. There she was kept in solitary confinement for 18 days, and forced to wear leg irons.

“These are some things I had to deal with. When you oppose the ruling party, you know you’re going to go through hell. I told myself all this, that I had to be strong. And it actually made me stronger. I thought: if they are doing this to me, then what I’m doing has an impact,” said Masarira.