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| author/source:News24 (SA) |
| published:Thu 17-Apr-2003 |
| posted on this site:Fri 18-Apr-2003 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| "The current authors are aware of 15 detentions in relation to the first CWC match in Bulawayo, of 42 detentions at the second and of 23 detentions at the third. All those detained have reported torture or severe ill treatment" |
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Johannesburg - The day before Zimbabwe celebrates its independence day, church leaders released a report on Thursday citing incidents of torture allegedly carried out by police and government supporters. The Solidarity Peace Trust, comprising four Zimbabwean church leaders and two from South Africa, said in its foreword that the report concentrated on incidents of torture reported between February 24 and March 25 in Bulawayo. The report was endorsed by an independent group of Danish medical doctors called Physicians for Human Rights, Denmark. "State organised violence occurred on a massive scale in many parts of Zimbabwe during the month of March 2003," the trust said in the report, released in Johannesburg. "We document in this report that mutilating torture beyond any doubt is practised by government supporters against their political opponents in Zimbabwe in 2003." The report charges that in all the cases reported to human rights health officials in Bulawayo in March, the police were implicated as the perpetrators. All the cases of abuse took place in the context of peaceful public protest, while almost half the victims were women. "This may reflect a growing willingness on the part of ordinary Zimbabweans, in particular women, to take part in such protests, and more blatant attempts by the state to prevent this."
Some instances of abuse also occurred at peaceful protests during CWC matches in Bulawayo. "The current authors are aware of 15 detentions in relation to the first CWC match in Bulawayo, of 42 detentions at the second and of 23 detentions at the third. "All those detained have reported torture or severe ill treatment." Fourteen of the detainees reported that they were kicked and trodden on, and beaten with police batons or wooden sticks, while six said they were beaten with a baseball bat or a sjambok. All the detainees reported they were denied food and water for between one and six days. Thirty-two said they were put in a cell measuring 3x4 metres, while a larger cell nearby was empty. Medical treatment was also denied. The report says that a youth with a broken arm was held for six days in a cell and repeatedly denied medical care. Janah Ncube, who is the chairperson of the Zimbabwean Women's Coalition and attended Thursday's function, said there had been a dramatic increase in women being raped by youths dressed in military uniforms. "It is as if we are at war and they are using rape to get to us," she said. "In one case a grandmother was raped by 12 men, in another a woman was raped by five men. It is so dehumanising. They are trying to rob us of our dignity."
A woman also had an AK47 forced into her vagina at a youth training centre where she was held for eight months as a sex slave, Ncube said. The youngest sex worker at the training centre was said to be 12 years old. Ncube said the women's movement wants to establish a rape crisis centre in Zimbabwe to assist victims of sexual abuse. "We need to get them medical care, to put them in contact with lawyers and to supply them with antiretrovirals." She said the people of Zimbabwe simply wanted to be treated with respect. "We are ordinary, uncomplicated people. We want to have families, a job, the security that comes from a job, go to soccer once in a while, be allowed to live free and without fear." Ncube added that the violence and strife in the country had little to do with land reform issues or race issues. "It is (Zimbabwe's ruling party) Zanu PF against the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) and the government does not like political opposition. It is political and it is about power." Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa was not available for comment on Thursday.
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