Vapositori: Where are civic groups?

Benny Tsododo Correspondent
The regrettable attack on police officers by some fanatical apostolic sect members in Budiriro  recently elicited varied reactions that gave me an opportunity to gauge the level of commitment by some political parties and civic society groups to fighting against human rights abuses and lawlessness.
It is natural that when such a horrible incident occurs, you expect instantaneous responses from civic society organisations purporting to be fighting lawlessness and human rights abuses in the country.

Remember the topics of human rights abuses and the rule of law in Zimbabwe have been internationalised by groups pretending to be worried about the absence of these values in the country.

So when reports of the attack on law enforcement agents, journalists and members of the ACCZ started filtering in, I thought there was going to be an avalanche of statements from these organisations condemning the barbaric act. My expectations were even more whetted with news that the violent members of the apostolic sect were abusing women and girls.

With fathers accused of systematically conducting “virginity tests” on their daughters, denying their children access to health and education facilities, battering their wives and denying them their constitutional right to identity documents, one would have expected civic society groups to issue strong statements berating the alleged perpetrators.

But alas, there was deafening silence from the concerned groups. One wonders where Betty Makoni and her Girl Child Network are. Where is Jenni Williams and her Valentine’s Day-savvy Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)? Where is Jestina Mukoko and her Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)? Even the watchful Human Rights Watch was noticeable by its deafening silence.

It is now over a week since the shameful attack on the police and the unearthing of human rights abuses yet there are no statements from the usually vocal groups.

What is strange about these groups is that they instantly go ballistic if a single case of alleged or concocted political persecution is reported.

They will dedicate yards of media space condemning the act and lobbying for the punishment of the perpetrators. Yet they remain mum in the face of the abuse of female members of the Budiriro cult.

What could be the reason for the organisations’ barefaced lack of interest in the infringement of the human rights of the women and girls of the apostolic sect? Could it be that the rights of these apostolic sect members and other non-political beings are not worth protecting?

Nevertheless, some civic society groups managed to issue statements after some developments to the matter. I will bet my last dollar that the statement would never have seen the light of day if Budiriro residents had not demonstrated against the attack.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Heal Zimbabwe Trust (HZT) only published their statements after forcing a political twist to the matter by alleging that the Budiriro residents who demonstrated against the attack were ZANU-PF youths.

In its statement HZT said; “The sudden involvement of political party cadres in the dispute serves no one, but has the potential to escalate the conflict and violence.

HZT therefore castigates the acts of lawlessness by the youths without disregarding the violence and violations perpetrated against the police, journalists, women and girls by members of the apostolic sect.”

It should be noted that the vital issue of the abuse of women and girls only comes as an afterthought, but the main purpose of the statement was to denounce the involvement of the supposed ZANU-PF youths.

The ZHRL also came out with a statement that overly dwelt on the alleged lack of professionalism by the police.

Part of the statement read; “ZLHR further calls upon the Police Service Commission to intervene and ensure that members of the ZRP comply with Section 208 of the Constitution, which stipulates that they must act in accordance with the country’s Constitution and the law in the execution of their duties.”

As can be seen in the above excerpt, the ZLHR took the opportunity to indirectly re-introduce the tired opposition topic of “security sector reforms” and completely ignored the glaring accusations of human rights abuses in the apostolic sect.

Taking a cue from ZLHR, the MDC-T also issued a statement lambasting the police for their alleged involvement in politics. Lilian Timveos, the party’s alternative Home Affairs Minister, said; “While the violence is to be condemned, the Movement for Democratic Change has noticed a disturbing trend where the country’s police officers have abused their rank and authority in support of dubious ZANU-PF causes.

“We are alarmed that police officers were injured unnecessarily while trying to enforce the illegal orders of one Ndanga of the so–called ACCZ, which is a well-known ZANU-PF front.”

The MDC-T has always and will always see a ZANU PF hand in everything it deems to be wicked or unlawful. Granted, ZANU-PF had indeed sent the police and ACCZ to the apostolic shrine for the purposes of stopping the abuse of women and girls, what could be wrong with that?

Is it wrong for ZANU-PF to push for the protection of women and girls from systematic abuse by their husbands and fathers? What could be wrong with enforcing a religious ban on a cult that denies its children access to health and education, a cult that destroys identity cards and educational certificates of its members?

Instead of the recriminations, the civic society groups and the MDC-T should have applauded the police and ACCZ for pushing for the protection of women and girls. If they had any resentments over the way the ban was enforced, that would have been raised in a constructive manner.

Genuine civic society groups should not be seen to be waiting to determine the political complexion of an event and then issue statements. No matter the political matrices, we expect civic society groups to instantly condemn violence, lawlessness and the abuse of children and women.

It is disheartening that most civic society groups have decided to ignore the allegations of abuse of women and children.

It is even more unsettling that other civic society groups and the MDC-T have decided to side with the lawless perpetrators of human rights abuses by dwelling on the technical and political connotations of the mater while pushing aside the issue of human rights abuse.