Mnangagwa battered by ongoing turmoil
Publish date: 21 January 2019
Issue Number: 807
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Zimbabwe
Hundreds of activists remain in hiding in Zimbabwe following the worst government crackdown since the ousting of Robert Mugabe. The Guardian reports that activists said soldiers and unidentified armed men conducted door-to-door searches in poor areas of cities on Friday, dragging ‘random’ residents out of homes to be beaten and often detained. The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said it had treated 68 cases of gunshot wounds and 100-plus other cases of ‘assaults with sharp objects, booted feet and baton sticks. Security forces have arrested between 400 and 600 suspects since last Monday, the start of a national ‘stay-at-home’ protest called by unions after a massive increase in the price of fuel began on Monday, well-informed NGOs estimate. Twelve people are thought to have died after being shot.
SA's main opposition party, the DA, yesterday threatened to approach the International Criminal Court (ICC) if President Cyril Ramaphosa failed to intervene directly to stop alleged human rights violations by the Zimbabwe authorities. It urged Ramaphosa to reconsider his ‘quiet diplomacy 2.0’ and advise Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stop the military clampdown on civilians. ‘The DA strongly believes that the human rights crisis is of sufficient gravity to warrant an ICC investigation because, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, at least 12 people have been killed, 78 shot at and 240 faced assault, torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment,’ said DA MP Stevens Mokgalapa. A TimesLIVE report notes that he said Pretoria appears to be following former President Thabo Mbeki’s failed diplomacy. ‘Mbeki’s silence only served to worsen the human rights climate in Zimbabwe and led to a collapse of the economy. President Ramaphosa is faced with an easy choice: either he intervenes to stop civilian abuse by the military in Zimbabwe or his government will be one of the parties that will answer to the ICC on why they failed to act to stop the human rights violations,’ Mokgalapa added.
The Zimbabwe Government ordered another nationwide Internet shutdown – the second in under a week – ignoring local and global condemnation of its violent crackdown against protesters and the adverse impact of the cyber-censorship on an already ailing economy. New Zimbabwe reports that the latest shut down was confirmed by the country's largest telecoms company Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. ‘We were served with another directive for total shutdown of the Internet until further notice,’ it said in a message to its network users. It added that its lawyers advised it to comply with the directive ‘pending the court’s decision on its legality’. The High Court challenge was filed by advocacy attorneys, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and the local branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa after the first two-day blockade on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. Service providers were later told to restore Internet access but to continue blocking social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp. The UK has expressed deep concern at the situation. A report on the IoL site notes that Minister of State for Africa Harriett Baldwin called on Harare to restore full Internet access in the country.
The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) has expressed deep concern over the Internet blackout. It notes that the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Zimbabwe Chapter) have brought a High Court application challenging the government’s censorship. ‘Citizens have the freedom to assemble peacefully without fear of violent arrest or death. We also strongly support freedom of expression and believe that Internet shutdowns cut off access to vital information. An Internet shutdown does not restore order; it does the contrary. It disrupts the free flow of information and hides human rights abuses from the public,’ said LSSA co-chairpersons Mvuzo Notyesi and Ettienne Barnard in a statement. They said they were standing with their Zimbabwean colleagues who were defending ‘the Zimbabwean people’s freedoms both through the High Court application and in courts throughout the country where people may have been unlawfully arrested’.
Meanwhile, SA is planning to extend short-term credit to Zimbabwe and also to help it write off its $7.4bn external debt, to prevent its neighbour spiralling out of control. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni disclosed the plan in an interview with Daily Maverick as Zimbabwe slipped closer to the brink after the massive fuel price hike. He said the two governments were still discussing how to work together to settle Zimbabwe’s debt to the IMF, World Bank and the Paris Club. However, some critics believe that SA is just tinkering with the crisis and that any money that it channels to Zimbabwe will be wasted unless it persuades the ruling Zanu-PF to make fundamental political and economic reforms. ‘It’s an act of self-delusion if you think you can avoid talking politics as you engage Zimbabwe, as in many other places,’ Piers Pigou, senior consultant to the International Crisis Group said in response to Mboweni’s disclosure. Director-General of the SA National Treasury Dondo Mogajane said Pretoria had declined a request for a bailout of $1.2bn in December.
