[AU-Monitor] OSISA statement on Zimbabwe Rights Abuses - March 12, 2007

Tue Mar 13 08:37:39 GMT 2007

Dear Colleagues, Friends and Partners

With the escalation of repression in Zimbabwe, OSISA has released the
following statement:

Please may we request you to disseminate as widely as possible to your
networks, media and country contacts. We are presently in the process of
drafting a statement which will appear in the regional press. This
statement will be forwarded to you shortly and we would like you to sign
up to either as an individual or as an organization demanding that the
Zimbabwe government stop its atrocities against civil society.

We would also like to request that you lobby your government, the
Zimbabwe Consulate/Embassy in country, other embassies, donors etc to
make a statement on the situation in Zimbabwe. This can be done by
holding public meetings etc. 

We are also developing a strategy on engaging with SADC and will forward
details in due course. 

The situation is dire and needs urgent attention.

Yours in the struggle for democracy and human rights

The OSISA Team.

ZIMBABWE: Call for the Protection of Rights 

Johannesburg, South Africa - Monday 12 March, 2007 

It has come to our attention that on Sunday 11 March

2007, Mr. Gift Tandare, a Zimbabwean citizen was shot

and killed by police in Highfields, a suburb in the

capital city of Harare. 

He was on his way to a prayer meeting.  

Zimbabweans from different walks of life had agreed to

spend their Sunday, the traditional day of Christian

worship, in collective fellowship as comfort to each

other. Their aim: to build some hope for their

country, caught in a tangle of extreme political

tension, economic hardship and spiritual distress. 

The prayer meeting was organised by the Save Zimbabwe

Campaign, an alliance of individual Zimbabweans

organized through their affiliations with their

churches, their labour unions, students' bodies, the

media, youth groups, women's organizations and a

variety of political parties. 

Eyewitness accounts say riot police officers at the

scene, advanced on the crowd and fired multiple shots

at the unarmed civilians. One of the bullets hit Mr.

Gift Tandare, aged 30, in the chest. He died on the

side of the road where others had dragged him before

they fled the approaching police. The officer who

fired the fatal shot has not come forward. 

We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Gift

Tandare's wife and three children, two daughters and a

son, at this time of their loss.  May you be comforted

by the knowledge of our prayers and support for you at

this tragic time. 

Mr. Tandare was Youth Chairperson of the National

Constitutional Assembly (NCA) for Glenview suburb in

Harare. The NCA is a lawfully registered group that

advocates for Zimbabwe to adopt a homegrown, people

driven constitution.  

We take this painful moment of Tandare's death to

bring to the world's attention our concern over the

arrests of other civic and political leaders, among

them Dr Lovemore Madhuku, Lecturer at Law and

Chairperson of the NCA. He was beaten in police

custody and rushed to Parirenyatwa hospital. He was

treated for a broken arm and has had five stitches but

remains in the cells at Marlborough Police Station. 

We are additionally concerned at the arrests of the

leadership of political parties, particularly those in

the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), among them

MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, who was beaten to the

point of collapsing and was taken to Parirenyatwa

hospital in the early hours of this morning. He has

since been taken to Borrowdale police station and is

unable to speak due to extensive injuries. 

Other MDC members assaulted and in custody include: 

Ms Grace Kwinjeh, beaten and held in custody at

Braeside Police Station. 

Professor Arthur Mutambara, and 4 others, held at

Avondale Police Station. Their condition could not be

ascertained as visitors were denied access to the

detainees. 

Mr. Tendai Biti, Honourable Member of Parliament for

Harare East constituency, is in custody at Rhodesville

Police Station.

The Honourable Nelson Chamisa, Member of Parliament

for Kuwadzana is in custody at Highlands Police

Station. 

Mrs Sekai Holland and Mr Elton Mangoma, also of the 

MDC are in custody at unknown locations.

This horrific treatment of members of a legitimately

registered political entity goes against the letter

and the spirit of the Southern African Development

Community (SADC) Guidelines and Principles on Free and

Fair Elections and the regulations governing detainees

as outlined in the African Charter for Human and

People's Rights.  

We raise further concern that Mr. Harrison Nkomo,

legal representative for the arrested parties was not

only denied access to his clients but also was himself

assaulted for seeking to protect the rights of his

clients.

We are additionally concerned by the reluctance of the

Courts to treat this matter with the urgency it

deserves by delaying its response to the urgent

application placed before the Judge President on

Sunday night. 

A total of 49 Zimbabweans are currently confirmed to

be detained at as many as fifteen different police

stations across the capital city. Further arrests have

been reported in Mutare, where 125 activists of the

opposition were picked up, and in Masvingo.  The

detainees have been denied access to legal

representation and medical attention. 

This is the latest assault on the human rights of

citizens in Zimbabwe. 

Recalling that Zimbabwe is signatory to the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights and many other instruments

that promote and protect the rights and dignities of

its citizens we urge immediate:

1.    investigation of the death of Gift Tandare on March

11 following the police shooting in Highfield

2.    release from further detention of all those

citizens who are being held for having exercised their

democratic right to peaceful protest through the

prayer meeting

3.    provision of quality medical attention to all those

who have been tortured in police custody 

4.    access by lawyers to all those in custody.

Zimbabwe's citizens should be enabled to enjoy their

freedoms of peaceful protest and  assembly without

fear of death from a police force whose mandate is to

protect them. We call upon the relevant government

authorities to repeal the ban issued in February on

public meetings and protest expression. 

ISSUED BY: The Open Society Initiative for Southern

Africa, OSISA.

OSISA is a leading southern African human rights and

advocacy foundation. Established in 1997 , OSISA is

headquarted in Johanesburg and works in ten countries

of the sub-region: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,

Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

OSISA's vision is to promote and sustain the ideals,

values, institutions and practice of open society.

OSISA's vision is that of a vibrant Southern African

society in which people, free from material and other

deprivation, understand their rights and

responsibilities and participate democratically in all

spheres of life.

OSISA Angola Office

Telephone: + 244 2 22 325 989/ 22 326 916

Fax: + 244 2 22 325 015

Luanda 

Angola

OSISA Johannesburg office

Telephone: +27 11 403-3414/ 5/ 6 

Fax: +27 11 403-2708

PO Box 678

Wits 2050

Johannesburg

Attention  Isabella Matambanadzo

Mobile Tel: + 27 82 610 6704 

email: info at osisa.org, web at osisa.org.

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