Human rights lobby group the Zimbabwe Peace Project says state security agents were the major perpetrators of human rights abuses during the month of March 2021.
In its monthly report for the said month, ZPP says the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) topped the list of perpetrators recording 37, 61 percent of the violations.
“The fact that the general citizens were on their own is backed by the statistics of the human rights violations recorded in the month of March 2021.The harassment of citizens by state security agents continued, and ZPP recorded 79 cases, with the police once again leading the list of perpetrators making up 37.61 percent of the perpetrators of the human rights violations logged in March 2021.
“The municipal police in Harare contributed to 7.55 percent of the perpetrators. The violations by the national and municipal police, ZPP noted in its documentation processes, was mainly due to the continued attempts to stifle the operations of those in the informal sector.” noted the report
The pressure group says it recorded two deaths and several assaults on with politicisation of food aid prevalent across the country.
“ZPP this month (March) recorded 221 human rights violations, 83 of which were harassment and intimidation of citizens, mostly by the police deployed to enforce the lockdown. The organisation recorded two killings, two attempted murders, one abduction, 21 cases of unlawful detention, and 35 cases of assault, most of which are attributed to state security agents.
“Politicisation of food and other aid remained prevalent across the country and ZPP registered 27 cases of food and other aid discrimination. The ruling Zanu PF, which appears to have geared itself into election mode way ahead of the 2023 elections, contributed to a significant 16.77 percent of perpetrators of violations recorded in March 2021.” said ZPP
According to the report Harare recorded the highest violations at 65, followed by Manicaland at 40 and the Matabeleland region recorded the lowest number of violations.
