Zanu PF accounts for 55% of rights violations

Source: NewsDay Zimbabwe
Author: Vanessa Gonye

The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has said it recorded 154 human rights violations and abuses across the country's 10 provinces in January with Zanu PF accounting for more than half of the cases.

In its first monthly report for January, ZPP said most of the victims were men accounting for 54,45% of the recorded cases, with the remaining 45,56% being women.

"55,12% of the violations are attributable to the ruling party, Zanu PF," the report read.

"The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and municipal police contributed 15,18% and 11,55%, respectively.

"Members of the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) contributed 8,25% of the violations, while traditional leaders contributed 3,96%."

ZPP said topping the list of key violations were cases of intimidation, harassment and political violence with ordinary citizens being the majority of victims at 67%.

"0,3% of the female victims were people with disabilities and men with disabilities represented 0,5% of the male victims," the report read.

"The second largest group of victims were members of the CCC constituting 30,7% of the victims.

"Other political parties such as Zanu PF and the MDC-T also recorded victims representing 0,5% and 0,4%, respectively."

According to the ZPP, there were 25 cases of violations on the right to equality and non-discrimination on grounds of political affiliation.

"Six cases of assault were also recorded while other cases included theft of government-sponsored aid meant for the public, torture, and malicious damage to property," the report said.

"The cases recorded include inter-party violence where two Zanu PF youths engaged in a physical fight with members of a member of CCC in Nyanga North after an altercation over the 2023 elections results, resulting in the CCC member sustaining mouth injuries.

"Cases of inter-party violence were also recorded in Harare where some members of the MDC Alliance were assaulted by suspected CCC members at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House in the central business district."

The ZPP urged members of the public to report to the police any acts of abuse and human rights violations.