News / Press Release

by Thembani Dube, 1893 MHRRM Secretary for Information and Publicity

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The 1893 Mthwakazi Human Rights Restoration Movement (1893 MHRRM), after receiving an avalanche of credible information and hard evidence of mass and indiscriminate human rights violations by the army, police and state agents from various sources in Matebeleland and Mashonaland post demonstrations on fuel hikes that were announced more than a week ago, hereby issues a statement of strong condemnation of the Zimbabwean government's continued obsession with blood-letting and blood-curdling methods of dealing with and managing demonstrations.The actions of the Zimbabwean government are in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which include the liberty to demonstrate, rights to freedoms of expression, rights to online freedoms, rights to assembly and association and the right to life and security.These Rights of the citizenry extend to the liberty from widespread and systematic mass rapes of children and women, liberty from mass torture and degrading treatment, liberty from mass arbitrary arrests and mass detentions of civilians without access to lawyers as well as liberty from extra-judicial killings.The actions of the Zimbabwean government and its security forces are reminiscent of its actions during the Matebeleland Gukurahundi Genocide of the 80s, where between 50 000 and 100 000 Matebeles were killed.Whereas in the 80s the Zimbabwean government used curfews and a food embargo as a weapon of total shutdown in Matebeleland, today's weapon of shutdown has been upgraded to internet and mobile shutdowns in an effort to prevent human rights abuses coming to the open. We note with grave concern that internet and mobile shutdowns are increasingly being used and adopted by autocratic regimes around the world as a cover to commit heinous crimes against their populations far away from the radar of international spotlight and scrutiny.The 1893 Mthwakazi Human Rights Restoration Movement appreciates strong statements of condemnation that have been issued by the South African Opposition parties, that is the EFF and the DA, the South African government, the European Union, the USA, the UN Human Rights Department and the United Kingdom. While these statements have gone as far as offering a strong condemnation of the Zimbabwean government's actions, this Movement is of the opinion that asking the Zimbabwean government to investigate Human Rights abuses committed by the security forces and other security state agents that it deployed is playing to the gallery of "wilful blindness" to Human Rights abuses taking place in Matebeleland and Mashonaland and the rest of Zimbabwe.Not long ago a Commission led by Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, former President of South Africa on the shooting of 7 civilians on the 1st August 2018 post elections, indicated that security forces were responsible for using excessive and disproportionate force on demonstrators but none has been brought to book and made accountable for the shootings. Therefore it has been proven that asking the Zimbabwean government to oversee investigations into such human rights violations is merely a diplomatic game and a diplomatic coded language of kicking accountability for such human rights violations into the long grass in pursuance of economic interests at the expense of the value of human life in Africa.The 1893 Mthwakazi Human Rights Restoration Movement therefore believes that the UN should lead in carrying out such an investigation in Zimbabwe in order to bring to account those responsible for such widespread and systematic Human Rights abuses including the raping of children and women. The international community's continued coded diplomatic language of "wilful blindness" to systematic human rights violations in Zimbabwe since the 80s to the present needs a 360 degrees paradigm shift for progress to take root in that Human Rights abuses infested country.Released by the 1893 MHRRM Information and Publicity Department