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IV. Background

Zimbabwe has an extremely poor record of respect for civil and political rights.  In the past eight years, Zimbabwe’s political development has been marked by government efforts to close political space and to shield itself from public scrutiny and competition from credible rivals among the domestic political opposition.  This trend was defined by major developments during parliamentary elections in 2000 and 2005, and a presidential election in 2002.³

Many international observers found that elections in 2000 and 2002 fell far short of established international standards.⁴ In each of these elections it was clear that violations began in the early stages of the election campaign process and continued through to election day. During the parliamentary elections in 2000 and presidential election in 2002, international observers and international organizations documented widespread and extreme violence and serious electoral irregularities including flawed registration procedures, coercion of voters, and interference in the distribution of food aid for political gain.⁵ Human Rights Watch documented similar violations in parliamentary elections in 2005.⁶ Those elections, while significantly more peaceful than those in 2002, were however just as flawed and marked by widespread intimidation in the rural parts of the country.

Violations of the electoral code in Zimbabwe have rarely been prosecuted, and the same can be said of abuses perpetrated by the police and other security agents.  The lack of an independent judiciary in Zimbabwe perpetuates impunity for government interference in the electoral process. The public has little trust in the courts and consequently often will not bring cases before them.  Many of the cases of violations during the electoral period against government and ruling party supporters brought by opposition parties in 2000 and 2002 are still pending in the courts.⁷

State-Sponsored Violence and Intimidation against Opposition Members and Human Rights Defenders in 2007

The 2008 elections come in the midst of widespread human rights violations occurring across Zimbabwe, and an ever-deepening economic crisis.⁸ 

Developments in Zimbabwe in 2007 have had a profound effect on prospects for a free and fair election. Incidents of political violence perpetrated by the police and other state agents against human rights defenders, journalists, and opposition members have intensified the climate of fear that already existed in the country, and affected the ability of the opposition to build its party structures and prepare for the elections.

Incidents of police violence and intimidation increased significantly in January and February 2007, culminating in the arrest and beating of more than 50 opposition members and civil society activists including Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Harare-based faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on March 11, 2007.⁹  This precipitated a widespread crackdown on the opposition and people perceived to be opposition supporters in the high-density suburbs of Harare.  In late March and early April, the Tsvangirai-led MDC’s campaigning structures were effectively disrupted when more than 30 of its officials were arrested and tortured in police custody, after police accused them of carrying out a bombing campaign in the days after March 11.¹⁰  A high court judge presiding over the case condemned the torture of the activists,¹¹ and after more than 72 days in police custody the activists were acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence.¹²

Failure of SADC Mediation Talks

In response to the brutal police beating of the opposition members and civil society activists on March 11, 2007, SADC leaders convened an extraordinary summit on March 28, 2007, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to address the political crisis. The SADC mandated South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate talks between the MDC and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and report back to the SADC on progress.¹³

The intervention of the SADC highlighted the extent of the political crisis in Zimbabwe. It also emphasized the determination of the regional body and its leaders to resolve the crisis in a manner that would reestablish institutions that would make it possible for democratic elections to take place in the country. 

President Mbeki made it clear that one of the mediation’s main objectives was to create conditions for free and fair elections in 2008 and that the talks should result in “elections whose outcome would not be contested.”¹⁴  However, the mediation talks stalled in early January 2008 when President Mugabe announced that the elections would take place in March 2008 against the opposition’s call for the elections to be postponed to a much later date.  On January 17 President Mbeki visited Harare in an attempt to reactivate the talks, but came back with little in the way of concrete results.¹⁵ The South African government’s subsequent claims that the talks had ended positively despite the setbacks were repudiated by the MDC. In a joint press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 21 the secretaries general of the two factions of the MDC, Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube, announced that the Zimbabwe government had reneged on agreements to implement a new constitution and make legislative reforms before elections were held.¹⁶

The failure of the SADC mediation talks to reach an agreement over issues related to the elections makes it increasingly unlikely that the March 2008 election results will not be contested.  This also raises serious concerns about the high potential for election­-related violence after the elections (see also Chapter VI, below).