Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Zimbabwe.htm
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CAUTION: The following links have
been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Zimbabwe. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent
countries and/or regions. Meanwhile,
check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Zimbabwe U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/zimbabwe/
[accessed 12 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT NGOs reported
security forces abducted, assaulted, and tortured citizens in custody,
including targeted assault on and torture of civil society activists, labor
leaders, opposition members, and other perceived opponents of the government.
Throughout the year police used excessive force in apprehending, detaining,
and interrogating criminal suspects. In some cases police arrested and
charged the victims of violence rather than the perpetrators and accused
abduction victims of filing false reports. Human rights groups
reported government agents continued to perpetrate physical and psychological
torture on labor leaders and opposition party members during abductions.
Reported torture methods included sexual assault; beating victims with
sticks, clubs, cables, gun butts, and sjamboks (a
heavy whip); falanga (beating the soles of the
feet); forced consumption of human excrement; and oral chemical poisoning, as
well as pouring corrosive substances on exposed skin. As of November there
were a minimum of five reports of short-term abductions and assaults or
torture allegedly performed by state security actors. These instances
typically occurred at night, although some happened in broad daylight. The
abductors forcibly removed persons from their homes, parking lots, and press
conferences and assaulted them for hours before abandoning them, usually
severely injured and naked, in a remote area. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were harsh and life threatening due to overcrowding, food shortages, and
inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care. Physical
Conditions: Conditions in prisons, jails, and detention centers were often
harsh. While some prisons operated below capacity, NGOs reported that most
were overcrowded due to outdated infrastructure and judicial backlogs. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/zimbabwe/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 16 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? Security forces
backed by ZANU-PF have long engaged in acts of extralegal violence, including
against opposition supporters, and impunity is the norm for such abuses.
Detainees and protesters often face police brutality, sometimes resulting in
death. The security crackdown associated with the January 2019 protests
included 17 fatalities and hundreds of cases of torture or other forms of
egregious physical abuse. Despite some
improvements in recent years, prison conditions are harsh and at times
life-threatening. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and food shortages have
contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other illnesses
among inmates. Govt
compensates Mukoko over torture Pauline Hurungudo, DailyNews, Harare,
15 December 2018 www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2018/12/15/govt-compensates-mukoko-over-torture [accessed 16
December 2018] Mukoko was abducted at
dawn in her nightdress by unidentified armed men from her Norton home on
December 3, 2008 and tortured before being handed over to the police 19 days
later. Mtetwa argued that there
was serious violation of several of her fundamental rights by State Security
agents, including being subjected to torture and inhuman and degrading
treatment including simulated drowning, being locked in a freezer and being
subjected to physical assaults as her tormenters tried to make her confess to
plotting to overthrow the administration of Zimbabwe's former leader, Robert
Mugabe. Police torture
victim still battling for life Nokuthaba Dlamini,
NewsDay, 20 December 2017 www.newsday.co.zw/2017/12/police-torture-victim-still-battling-life/ [accessed 22
December 2017] Seven months after
she was reportedly forced by police officers to sit on an acidic substance,
burning her backside in the process, 30-year-old Victoria Falls resident Zibusiso Moyo is still battling
for her life and says she has lost hope of completely healing as the wound
has remained septic. Moyo was allegedly
picked up from the streets sometime in June this year and tortured by police
officers who accused her of loitering for purposes of prostitution. She claimed was
made to sit on a caustic soda-covered van surface where she suffered severe
burns on her backside and private parts, resulting in a miscarriage and haemorrhage that medical doctors are reportedly failing
to stop. Moyo said her gaping
wounds had not responded well to treatment and she had been advised to seek
specialist treatment in South Africa, which she said was beyond her means. “My skin is always
reacting and the rash becomes itchy whenever I am exposed to the sun or when
I take medication. “I wish God could
take away this pain from me by letting me die because I am now like a moving
grave.” 'Jailing Mugabe
would bring Zimbabwe bad luck', says survivor of Mugabe's torture Mahlatse Mahlase,
News24, Johannesburg, 24 Nov 2017 [accessed 25 November
2017] A survivor of
atrocities committed by former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's regime, has called for a truth and reconciliation
commission instead of jailing the former long time
ruler. I was arrested
about 11 times - three times I was tortured with electro shocks, water
dumping and water suffocation and they threw me in remand prison for 23 days
wounded and still they continued torturing me but refused to give me
medication," Chikowero said. MP relives horrible
CIO abduction, torture Veneranda Langa,
The Standard, 17 July 2016 www.thestandard.co.zw/2016/07/17/mp-relives-horrible-cio-abduction-torture/ [accessed 2 August
2016] “Initially, we were
taken together in a Toyota Venture vehicle — blue in colour.
We were blindfolded and kept separately incommunicado for 55 days. ln solitary confinement, we were harassed, tortured and
beaten up thoroughly in a bid to make us confess to what we did not do,” she
said. Chinanzvavana said they were
detained incommunicado from October 30 up to December 22 2008, after which
they were taken to Ahmed House in Harare at the police’s Central
Investigations Department (CID) fraud section. They were then told they were
now in the hands of the police. “The
officer-in-charge was Superintendent Peter Magwenzi.
We were then kept in police custody for two days and two nights for
collection of statements, and then taken to court on Christmas eve of 2008,”
she recalls. “We were remanded
in custody at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison’s D-section until March 3
2009, when we got out on bail.”. Mukoko
reveals grotesque torture Daily News, Harare,
8 May 2016 www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2016/05/08/mukoko-reveals-grotesque-torture [accessed 14 August
2016] Then her captors accused
her of working with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and
stunningly accused her of insurgency and recruiting MDC youths to train in
Botswana in an alleged regime change plot. She denied this,
and the torture started. She was told to either turn State witness “or face
extinction” and be buried in the premises. She recalls being
beaten brutally on the soles of her feet. “They used long
steel covered in rubber all over; it was the most painful thing my body had
ever experienced. “That method of
torture is called falanga, where they whip your
soles because they knew that in the past it was not easy to detect the
injuries, even through x-ray. But now there is scan
called the colour doppler,
that can easily detect dilated veins that are in line with that kind of
torture.” Speaking at the
Harare book launch, Petras lamented that Zimbabwe
still does not have laws which deal with enforced disappearances. “This presents a
challenge to lawyers and even the police don’t know how to deal with matters
of this nature,” she said. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] ZIMBABWE The government of
President Robert Mugabe continued to violate human rights in 2014 without
regard to protections in the country’s new constitution. An expected
legislative framework and new or amended laws to improve human rights in line
with the constitution never materialized. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR
PAST ABUSES
- Lack of accountability for past abuses remains a serious problem in
Zimbabwe. The government has failed to ensure justice for victims more than
five years after the 2008 politically motivated violence in which the ruling
Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), backed by state
security forces, committed widespread and systematic abuses that led to the killing
of up to 200 people, the beating and torture of 5,000 more, and the
displacement of about 36,000 people. Zanu
PF officials ordered to compensate torture victim Mthulisi Mathuthu,
SW Radio Africa, 2 mAY 2014 nehandaradio.com/2014/05/02/zanu-pf-officials-ordered-compensate-torture-victim/ [accessed 4 May
2014] Nyasha Gutsire was awarded $3,000 in compensation for the pain
he suffered at the hands of Inyanga ZANU PF
officials during the 2008 elections. The late Justice Karwi
found both Matthew Nyamakanga and Nicholas Matsivira guilty of abducting Gutsire
and handing him over to thugs at whose hands he suffered his fate. Nyamakanga and Matsivira, both ZANU PF officials, abducted their victim
in June 2008 and handed him over to thugs at the Nyanga
Community Hall in Nyamhuka Business Center. Gutsire was then assaulted with logs and suffered
injuries to his feet and eyes which persist to this day. He was also forced
to sit very close to a fire, which aggravated his pain and injuries. Police torture Mbada Diamond employees Zimbabwe
Independent, 17 April 2014 www.theindependent.co.zw/2014/04/17/police-torture-mbada-diamond-employees/ [accessed 20 April
2014] Gwazaza, who is employed
as a sorter supervisor by Mbada Diamonds, said:
“They (police) boasted that they could kill me and nothing will happen to
them by way of being arrested and tried. One of the investigating officers
wielded a baton stick and told me to agree with what they were saying and
admit the allegation.” He further claimed:
“He hit me on my back about once or twice. I saw that I was in great danger
and I had to accede and submit.” Gondo said he was subjected to assault while being
handcuffed. He said: “He Mvere produced a pistol from a laptop bag and pointed it
at me. He told me to say my last prayer loudly before he shot me dead. “I was terrified. It would take a man of
superhuman fortitude not to feel terrified under the circumstances. I
believed that I was going to be shot dead in a few minutes.” Support Unit cops
torture man to death New Zimbabwe, 25
February 2014 www.newzimbabwe.com/news-14577-Support+Unit+cops+torture+man+to+death/news.aspx [accessed 1 March
2014] www.harare24.com/index-id-news-zk-18934.html [accessed 20 January
2019] Two Chiredzi police officers attached to the ZRP Support Unit
fatally tortured a man to death in apparent revenge after he defeated one of
them in a fight. The court heard
that the pair tortured Luckson Muringani
of Chivhiko Village under Chief Sengwe
in Chiredzi for a whole night at Chibwedziva police base in 2010. Muringani died six days
later. Evidence produced in court showed he died from a fractured skull
sustained during the torture. Chiredzi
cops ‘torture’ suspect to death New Zimbabwe, 6
February 2014 www.newzimbabwe.com/news-14261-Chiredzi+cops+%E2%80%98torture%E2%80%99+suspect+to+death/news.aspx [accessed 8 Feb
2014] Two Chiredzi police officers have appeared in court charged
with murder after allegedly handcuffing and beating a suspect to death. The fatal assault
occurred on January 31 this year when constables Patrick Matutu,
31, and Tatenda Kutsukutsa,
26, - who are stationed at a police station in Chikombedzi
- went to arrest Rungani Gezani
for domestic violence. Gezani had allegedly assaulted his wife the previous
night. The court heard
that the police officers caught up with Gezani in
his fields, handcuffed him and started assaulting him with their batons. After the assault they forced him to run
the 8 km distance to the police station while they cycled behind him. The prosecutor said after running for a
while, Gezani started complaining about dizziness,
difficulty in breathing and thirst.
He then collapsed to the ground and the officers frantically tried to
resuscitate him by splashing cold water on his lifeless body. Fresh Zim torture docket handed to SA authorities for
investigation Alex Bell, SW Radio
Africa, 3 December 2013 www.swradioafrica.com/2013/12/03/fresh-zim-torture-docket-handed-to-sa-authorities-for-investigation/ [accessed 5 Dec
2013] nehandaradio.com/2013/12/04/fresh-zim-torture-docket-handed-to-sa-authorities-for-investigation/ [accessed 9 August
2017] In one affidavit,
seven labourers were picked up by police officers,
beaten throughout the journey to a police station and while in custody were
beaten with an armoured cable and batons. Other
examples of torture committed included some victims being beaten over the
head with a rifle butt which resulted in a fractured skull, or being beaten
on the soles of the feet with a sjambok, logs,
cables or iron bars. One of the farm workers reported being beaten over the
head with an iron bar and then, after his attackers had urinated on him, they
threw him onto a fire they had lit in an open pit. South Africa Pushed
to Hear Zimbabwe Torture Case Anita Powell, Voice
of America VOA News, Johannesburg, 1 November 2013 www.voanews.com/content/south-african-courts-pushed-to-hear-zimbabwe-torture-case/1781502.html [accessed 2 Nov
2013] The case that
lawyers are pushing South Africa to try is a harrowing one. In 2007, court documents say, Zimbabwe
police raided the headquarters of an opposition party and rounded up scores
of supporters. Those arrested say
the police beat, water boarded and shocked them, and even held mock
executions. Their lawyers argue that
the torture is a crime against humanity because it was so widespread and
systematic. The names of the alleged
perpetrators and victims have not been publicly released, though lawyers have
said the accused are “high-level officials.” But the case has
faced resistance in South African courts.
That’s because it happened in neighboring Zimbabwe, and prosecutors
have argued that they have no obligation to try the case here. But the Southern
African Litigation Center says that South Africa’s own laws oblige them to
step in and prosecute crimes against humanity in their region. ACHPR Finds
Zimbabwe Guilty of Torture Richard Lee, allAfrica, 24 March 2013 allafrica.com/stories/201303240145.html [accessed 25 March
2013] Shumba, who was
representing human rights activists and members of the opposition party MDC
before courts in Zimbabwe at the time of his arrest and torture at the hands
of the police and intelligence personnel, emphasised
that the ruling went beyond his case. Shumba brought a
complaint before the African Commission in 2004 and in its decision, the
ACHPR considered that Shumba had submitted "more
than adequate evidence" to support his allegation of torture and
ill-treatment, including being subjected to prolonged electric shocks in the
mouth, genitals, fingers, toes and other parts of the body. It said Zimbabwe
failed to open an official investigation and that it should do so and bring
those responsible to justice. Policing
and Human Rights -- Assessing southern African countries’ compliance with the
SARPCCO Code of Conduct for Police Officials Edited by Amanda Dissel & Cheryl Frank, African Policing Civilian
Oversight Forum APCOF, 2012 ISBN:
978-1-920489-81-6 [accessed 25 March
2014] [ZIMBABWE] --
ARTICLE 4: TORTURE AND CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT No police official shall, under any circumstances,
inflict, instigate, or tolerate any act of torture and other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment of any person. There are numerous
reports on torture, harassment, ill-treatment and arbitrary arrests against
human rights activists, opposition party supporters and ordinary
citizens. Police, state security
agents, and ZANU-PF supporters have been implicated in this violence. Torture
and ill-treatment have been particularly rampant during and around Zimbabwe’s
elections. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS IN POLICE CUSTODY - At least eight people died in police
custody under circumstances that suggest that they were tortured or summarily
executed. On 19 March, three
young men who had been taken into custody at Southerton
Police station in Harare died in very suspicious circumstances. Tendai Dzigarwi and Rufaro Mahohoma had been
arrested on 18 March in Harare’s suburb of Kambuzuma
by police from the Vehicle Theft Squad. They were arrested on suspicion of
motor vehicle theft. A third man, Emmson Ngundu, was arrested on 19 March in Zvimba
district. The police claimed the three men were killed during an attempted
escape, but an independent post-mortem conducted on Tendai
Dzigarwi concluded that he died from a gunshot
wound to the head fired from 2-3cm. Eyewitness accounts of the wounds of the
other two men point to the same conclusion. On 13 September,
two days after his release, Harrison Manyati died
at Harare Central Hospital from injuries sustained during torture while in
detention at Makoni Police station in Chitungwiza. Harrison Manyati
had been arbitrarily arrested and unlawfully detained on 7 September after he
had gone to the police station to enquire about a friend arrested for
housebreaking, theft and illegal entry. Police accused him of being an
accomplice and he was detained for four days without being charged or taken
to court. Police told family members that Harrison Manyati
had committed no crime. When he was released he laid charges of assault
against the police officers. According to an eyewitness, Manyati
was tortured during the first two days of his detention, and then detained
for two days to allow the wounds to heal. An independent post-mortem report
concluded that Manyati’s death was a direct result
of torture. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61600.htm [accessed 17
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61600.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the
constitution prohibits such practices, security forces tortured, raped, and
otherwise abused persons. There continued to be reports that police used
excessive force in apprehending and detaining criminal suspects. Government
supporters continued to torture suspected opposition members and farm
laborers. On April 7, MDC MP-elect
for Kuwadzana constituency, Nelson Chamisa, was arrested and
detained for three days for allegedly inciting violence. Police denied Chamisa food while he was detained. Police officers
removed him from the police station in the middle of the night, beat him, and
removed him from the police vehicle and forced him to march in leg irons
alongside the vehicle. On April 8, Chamisa's
attorney officially complained to police officers in charge of the first
police station, but there was no official action by year's end. In December 2004
police arrested Kenny Karidza, the ZANU-PF deputy
director of security, on charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act by
allegedly selling state secrets to foreign governments. Karidza
claimed police detained him at a police station for 14 days in underground
cells and tortured him repeatedly. Subsequently, he was blindfolded and moved
to a military camp. Karidza claimed he signed a
written confession to end the torture. At year's end his trial had not yet
begun. There were no
developments in the reported 2003 cases of torture and beating. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/zimbabwe [accessed 17
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] In general, security
forces are accountable to the government but abuse citizens with impunity.
They often ignore basic rights regarding detention, searches, and seizures.
The government has taken no clear action to halt the rising incidence of
torture and mistreatment of suspects in custody. ZANU-PF militias operate as
de facto enforcers of government policies and have committed assault,
torture, rape, extralegal evictions, and extralegal executions without fear
of punishment; the incidence of these abuses increased significantly in 2008.
Security forces have taken on major roles in crop collection, food
distribution, and enforcement of monetary policy, and both the police and the
military are heavily politicized. Pretrial detention
is a major problem, with some inmates held for over 10 years without trial.
Scores of MDC officials and activists were abducted, charged with treason,
and detained without due process throughout 2008; 16 remained in custody by
year’s end. Prison conditions are harsh and life-threatening. Severe
overcrowding and a major shortage of funds have contributed to a rise in
HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis infections among inmates and the deterioration of
already poor sanitation facilities. Deaths in prisons are often caused by
disease or beatings by guards, and many prisoners
rely on family members for food. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Zimbabwe
", http://gvnet.com/torture/Zimbabwe.htm, [accessed <date>] |
