WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. disappointment with Zimbabwe’s government keeps growing amid the heavy-handed response of authorities to any form of opposition, a senior State Department official said on Monday following a crackdown last week against protesters.
“The disappointment just keeps getting worse and worse, unfortunately,” said the official, speaking on background to reporters. “The government seems to be getting even more violent in their response to any form of opposition.”
The official said Washington had made clear to the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa what it would take to improve relations between Zimbabwe and the United States. U.S. officials have previously called on Mnangagwa to change Zimbabwe’s laws restricting media freedom and allowing protests.
Mnangagwa’s government last week banned anti-government protests by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which accuses the authorities of political repression and mismanaging the economy. Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds and barred access to the MDC’s Harare offices.
In March, President Donald Trump extended by one year U.S. sanctions against 100 entities and individuals in Zimbabwe, including Mnangagwa, saying his government had failed to bring about political and economic changes.
Money siphoned from government institutions through corruption was enough to cater for Zimbabwe’s humanitarian aid appeal and more, the European Union has said.
This comes after government recently reviewed upwards its budget for humanitarian support adding over US$100 million to the initial US$331.5 million.
Speaking to a local radio station on Tuesday, EU head of delegation, Timo Olkonnen stated that corruption had more devastating effects when compared to sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West, a narrative President Mnangagwa’s administration has since rejected.
“Corruption has a huge effect, people talking about hundreds of millions or even billions in terms of the Auditor General’s report and then you imagine that you have a humanitarian appeal for Zimbabwe for a couple hundred millions.
“Basically, that’s just a part of what is assumed to be stolen.
“It could have covered those needs for the humanitarian appeal. So I think the effect has been devastating for the economy,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum launched the special report ‘The New Deception: What has changed’ which critiques the record of the Mnangagwa government’s record in human rights observation. The report reflects on the promises of the return to constitutionalism and rule of law made President Emmerson Mnangagwa on 26 August 2018. Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated as the second Executive President of Zimbabwe after Zimbabwe’s long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was overthrown from power through a military coup.
The Forum launched the report which captured the human rights situation in the “new dispensation” on 27 August 2019. Apart from launching the documentary, the Forum held an engaging discussion which was focused on the key highlights of the report such as the nature and distribution of violations witnessed since November 2017 to date. The thrust of the event was to stimulate conversation around the current human rights violations being witnessed in the country. The event also sought to respond to the question on everyone’s mind, Is this the Zimbabwe we all want?
Statement from Professor Danwood Chirwa, Dean of Law at the University of Cape Town on the assault and arrest of UCT Law Alumnus Doug Coltart by police in Harare, Zimbabwe on Friday 23 August 2019
In the spirit of the maintenance of the rule of law, and following in the footsteps of many distinguished Law graduates of the University of Cape Town over its long history, I draw attention to the following events late last week.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) held an approved protest on Friday 23 August against current teacher salaries.
The protest was the first “PayDay Funeral”, marking the beginning of monthly protests to demand a living wage for Zimbabwe’s teachers.
Mr Doug Coltart, who obtained his LLB from the University of Cape Town in 2013 (and son of UCT Law alumnus Sir David Coltart, LLB Class of 1982), went to the protest as ARTUZ’s attorney, to provide support to its members who had received threats prior to the approved march.
Coltart was arrested, apparently (and by media reports) in response to nothing more than his asking the police why one of the protesters was being arrested. Coltart stated on Twitter “This was a peaceful lawful picket. Police were notified. ARTUZ has received threats … so I went to provide legal backup.”
Along with some union members, Coltart was handcuffed, assaulted and detained, until bail was granted after a court appearance a day later.
I condemn this brazen abuse of power by the Zimbabwean police and salute the commitment of Mr Coltart to his duties as an officer of the Court.
Professor Danwood Chirwa
Dean of Law | University of Cape Town
IN May 2018, when the Zimbabwe Independent interviewed British peer Lord Peter Hain — a prominent critic of former president Robert Mugabe’s regime — he was optimistic about the birth of a new era in Zimbabwe and was hopeful the country could rise from the ashes.BY BRIDGET MANANAVIRE
One year after the interview, Hain is now singing from a different hymn book: he is publicly saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is a disaster and a mirror reflection of the old Mugabe era.
His dramatic volte-face is an indication of how Mnangagwa’s re-engagement drive, which initially had global goodwill, is stalling within just 12 months.
Page 18 of 18