BEFORE a meeting of the Southern African heads of state in Zimbabwe this month, 18 political activists have been arrested in the course of one day.
In Harare, on 31 July, Namatai Kwekweza, the inaugural winner of the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize in 2023, and three other activists were taken off an aeroplane on the tarmac at the Robert Mugabe International Airport. In the latest government clampdown, 14 activists were arrested in town for participating in a civil protest.
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, spoke out against the detentions: “The WCC condemns in strongest terms all forms of torture and clampdown on civil society, and calls on President Mnangagwa to address these violations that undermine the constitution of Zimbabwe and international human rights law, and release the detained human rights activists.”
Amnesty International Zimbabwe put out a statement on social media: “We strongly condemn recent arrests of opposition members and human rights activists. Freedom of peaceful assembly, association, and expression are human rights. Authorities must protect, promote, and uphold fundamental rights.”
Amnesty also spoke out against the arrest of more than 70 members of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) opposition party, who had gathered at the Harare home of the interim party leader, Jameson Timba, on 16 June, for a Day of the African Child commemoration.
“Zimbabwean authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the CCC opposition-party members, and drop all the charges against them,” Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farise, said. “This lengthy, baseless detention plainly violates Zimbabwe’s Constitution and its international human-rights obligations. Authorities must end the crackdown on civic space and ensure everyone can freely speak and gather peacefully without fear of arrest or torture and other ill-treatment.”
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches — in which several Anglican dioceses are represented — met for its 47th General Assembly from 25 to 26 July. Its concluding communiqué said that “church leaders noted with concern that the current national context is characterized by numerous threats to our hope. . . The Church was instrumental in calling for justice before the country’s independence.” It described the current “politically fragile and polarized political environment failing to attain constitutional democracy and socio-economic transformation . . . mainly due to the negative politically motivated violence and Gukurahundi atrocities.”
The Southern African Development Community Summit is due to begin tomorrow, in which the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will become the regional bloc’s new chair by rotation. South African opposition parties have already begun to call for the severing of diplomatic ties between the neighbouring countries, although the African National Congress has said that South Africa will not isolate Zimbabwe.