Extract from Hansard (edited)
MR COLTART: Madam Speaker, on the 5th of December last year the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights passed a resolution in Banjul,
I had asked that the Resolution be printed but due to problems with this Honorable House’s photocopying equipment – the Resolution could not be printed in time for debate this afternoon. So, I will read the entire Resolution so that it forms part of the proceedings and is a record of today’s proceedings. It reads as follows Madam Speaker:-
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights meeting at its 38th Ordinary Session in Banjul, The Gambia from 21 November to 5 December 2005;
Considering that Zimbabwe is a Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international human rights instruments;
Recalling the recommendations to the government of Zimbabwe contained in the African Commission Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe in June 2002;
Further recalling the recommendations to the government of Zimbabwe by the United Nations Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe contained in her Report published on 22 July 2005;
Deeply concerned by the continued undermining of the independence of the judiciary through defiance of court orders, harassment and intimidation of independent judges and the executive ouster of the jurisdiction of the courts;
Further concerned by the continuing human rights violations and the deterioration of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, the lack of respect for the rule of law and the growing culture of impunity;
Alarmed by the number of internally displaced persons and the violations of fundamental individual and collective rights resulting from the forced evictions being carried out by the government of Zimbabwe;
- Condemns the human rights violations currently being perpetrated in Zimbabwe;
- Urges the government of Zimbabwe to cease the practice of forced evictions throughout the country, and to adhere to its obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international human rights instruments to which Zimbabwe is a party;
- Urges the government of Zimbabwe to implement without further delay the recommendations contained in the African Commission Report of the 2002 Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe and the recommendations in the July 2005 Report of the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues, in particular to ensure full and unimpeded access for the provision of aid and protection to the victims of the forced evictions and demolitions by impartial national and international humanitarian agencies and human rights monitors, and to ensure that those responsible for the violations are brought to justice without delay;
- Calls on the government of Zimbabwe to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of expression, association and assembly by repealing or amending repressive legislation, such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Broadcasting Services Act and the Public Order and Security Act;
- Calls on the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the principle of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary and urges the government of Zimbabwe to repeal or amend Constitutional Amendment (No.17) and provide an environment conducive to constitutional reform based on fundamental rights;
- Calls on the government of Zimbabwe to cooperate with the African Commission Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa and other African Commission Special Mechanisms, including allowing a Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the current situation of internally displaced persons in Zimbabwe;
- Urges the African Union to renew the mandate of the African Union Envoy to Zimbabwe to investigate the human rights implications and humanitarian consequences of the mass evictions and demolitions.
Done at Banjul, 5th December 2005
So reads the Resolution Madam Speaker. When this resolution was passed and published in Zimbabwe, it was immediately thrashed by the government – there was commentary and statements to the effect that the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights was another tool of Tony Blair and the British Government and that it had in some way been infiltrated by the British and that this resolution was solely another ploy by the British Government in search of its so called regime change policy.
Madam Speaker, in response to such allegations, it is necessary to recall how this Commission was formed in the first place. It was formed in response to the adoption of the African Charter of Human Rights by the 18th Heads of States Meeting which was held in June 1981in Nairobi, Kenya and which I believe was attended by none other than the then Prime Minister Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
In other words Mr Speaker, this is not only an African body. It is an African body that we all as Africans should be rightly proud of because it is designed to give teeth to the African Charter on Human Rights. This is not a body that is in any way an imperialistic body designed to promote the machinations of America or Britain. This is an African institution designed to ensure that Human Rights in Africa are respected, as they should be, as they are in many other parts of the world. To say that this commission is an arm of the British Government or is a lackey of the British Government is not only contemptuous of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights but is also contemptuous of the African Union itself.
Madam Speaker, this resolution is not new in the sense that it speaks out about human rights violations to the present state in this country because we know that there are many other international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch who have in the last five years issued many statements expressing concern about human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
All of those statements have been disregarded or condemned by the present government and those organisations have been accused of being western organisations promoting a Western agenda. Whilst we know that those same institutions were the very institutions that spoke out on human rights abuses perpetrated by the apartheid regime in South Africa and indeed by the Smith regime and the white minority rule in this country – these were the same organisations that protected many nationalist leaders who were imprisoned who are at present in this government.
Be that as it may Madam Speaker, the Government of Zimbabwe has been able to thrash these other human rights reports emanating from the international human rights organisation because they have been based in the West but the same does not apply to this resolution. This is a resolution that has come from an entirely African process and to that extent, it has something noble and it is set aside from many of these other human rights reports and resolutions that have emanated from Western organisations.
To that extent Madam Speaker, if we as Zimbabwean Parliamentarians ignore this resolution, in fact, we are ignoring what our African brothers and sisters are saying about our country and the benchmark that they are setting for Africans. This is a significant development and it simply can not be ignored. We, Madam Speaker, I believe as parliamentarians simply have an obligation to consider this resolution very seriously and to see what we can do together to implement the very sound calls made in the resolution.
We need to turn to some of the findings of this report and to consider the issues that have been raised by it and I believe that there are four main issues that are raised in this resolution.
The first Madam Speaker which I would put under the heading of General Human Rights Abuses Perpetrated in Zimbabwe especially the human rights abuses perpetrated under the so called Operation Murambatsvina.
Madam Speaker, there have been human rights reports issued recently stressing that the incidence of violence in this country has lessened in the last few years and that undoubtedly is the case. As some may be tempted to believe that because less people are being murdered, less people are being abducted or tortured than was the case a few years ago, then as a result our human rights situation has improved.
Madam Speaker, I would argue that an unresolved wound is in itself an ongoing human rights abuse and in this country during the last two decades we have many unresolved wounds that affect many different sectors of our society. If we go back to the 1980s we have the wounds that were created by the so called gukurahundi operation. This Government, Madam Speaker, promised that it will pay reparations to the victims of the Gukurahundi. None other than His Excellency the President has said that this was a time of madness acknowledging that this country should never go through such a thing again.
He said that there would be reparations in place. These are not my words, Madam Speaker. It is a fact, Madam Speaker that since those words were spoken no reparations have been effected and until this day there are many people who are victims of that period and I do not wish to go back to that period. This is a fact. There are victims who need reparations and who have not received any form of reparations.
Madam Speaker, let me turn to the events of the last six years. It is a fact that some 300 people have been murdered in this country in the last six years. Not a single perpetrator of those murders has been brought to book to date. When I have raised this with the Hon. Attorney General, his response has been to ask for a list of names which I am quite happy to supply. But Madam Speaker, if this was a government that was deeply concerned about murders in this country, about crimes that are taking place, about human rights abuses that have been perpetrated, the Attorney General himself would take the initiative. It is after all his constitutional obligation and it is an obligation, not a discretion that he has. He has an obligation to investigate all crimes and to prosecute all crimes vigorously. That has not happened in the course of the last six years and that is a festering sore in our national body politic.
Let me turn to Operation Murambatsvina which is the focus of this resolution, Madam Speaker: the UN report which acknowledges (disputed by this government) estimates that seven hundred thousand Zimbabweans suffered as a result of this operation. They were either displaced from their homes or displaced from their businesses. Whether that figure is an exaggeration or not, Madam Speaker, is not the point. Even if the number of people were half that, three hundred and fifty thousand, that is still a massive number of Zimbabweans who have had fundamental rights of theirs abused.
Madam Speaker, if we are honest with ourselves as an opposition and as a government, Operation Garikai has simply been a propaganda exercise. On the ground there is very little evidence of Operation Garikai. There are hardly any houses. Some of the houses that have been constructed have collapsed in the rains and other houses we now see are being allocated not to the victims but to people close to the government.
Recommendations made by credible international figures such as Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka of Tanzania, an African woman and not a European, has simply been ignored. The bottom line is that there are still people in my constituency – tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of the poor of the poorest people of Zimbabwe – suffering, with their plight completely ignored by the government. There appears to be a refusal by this government either to acknowledge the extent of the problem or if the extent of the problem is acknowledged, a refusal to take the measures necessary to assist the victims.
Where I come from, Bulawayo, it has been the churches, it has been the NGOs that have had to pick up the burden of looking after these people. Mrs. Tibaijuka’s report noted that crimes were committed during Operation Murambatsvina. The police acted in flagrant violation of the Urban Council Act and they illegally evicted people who were lawful occupiers; in many instances there was a malicious destruction of property on a grand scale. Not a single prosecution of any of the perpetrators of those crimes has ever been brought.
Madam Speaker, my friends may seek to ignore this, but human rights violation of this scale simply can not be dismissed. They are very serious issues and as this resolution shows they are being noted not just in the imperialistic west but in Africa.
The second major issue raised by this resolution concerns the fundamental freedom enjoyed by most people in the world, namely the freedom of expression, the freedom of association and the freedom of assembly. It is noteworthy that this resolution highlights repressive legislation on our statute books introduced since 2000, including AIPPA, the Broadcasting Services Act and POSA.
Madam Speaker, for all the attempts of my honourable friends to say that these repressive pieces of legislation have precedence elsewhere in the world and in Africa- we need to note, Madam Speaker, that these fascist laws (because that is what they are) – they are repugnant to Africans. They are an aberration in Africa and to that extent have no place in our statute books. We need seriously to take note of the call to amend these repressive measures. Do we see any intention of that? We certainly do not see any intention of that through the legislative process.
On the contrary to that, we see budgetary allocations passed by this honourable House last year allocating a vast amount of money to institutions that will further suppress these fundamental rights of expression, association and the like. Of particular concern is the budgetary allocation of $1.1 trillion allocated to the CIO. What is the relevance of that, Madam Speaker? A further $116 billion was allocated for developmental projects, for building and purchase of equipment for the CIO. We have seen in recent months that that money may well be spent on institutions or mechanisms that further undermine these fundamental rights. We have read reports in the daily news of the Financial Gazette being taken over by the CIO. We have seen the change in the editorial content of those newspapers especially the Mirror.
There are still no independent broadcasters in our country. When the Broadcasting Services Act was introduced a few years ago, we were told that it would facilitate independent broadcasters, but as we speak today, there are still no independent broadcasters. In Southern Africa we stand out as an exception. If you go to any one of our neighbouring states, you will find independent broadcasters, you will find a plethora of independent newspapers, they are vibrant. As I will touch on later, there is a connection; there is a correlation between these fundamental freedoms and economic development. When you crush the flow of information, you crush the economy. When you allow an unimpeded flow of information you guarantee a vibrant economy; there is a connection. These are the issues raised by the African Commission that we need to take seriously.
The third issue concerns the principle of separation of powers touched on under paragraph 5 of the Resolution. It is interesting that the African Commission focused specifically on Constitutional Amendment No 17. As you know, Constitutional Amendment No. 17 was heralded by the government as being a panacea to our problem, the final blow against colonialism. The final blow that would ensure that past colonial injustices will be addressed. So it will be curious that an African body does not view Constitutional Amendment No. 17 in the same light. Of course it touches on our key objection to Constitutional Amendment No. 17, and that is that it violates the fundamental right that every person should have to due process of law.
We on this side of the House have never disputed the right of a rational government to resolve a historical injustice as pertained in this country. I have the Honourable Minister of Housing sitting opposite me; he will recall when he was Speaker thanking me in the lobby of this House when I spoke out in Washington in 2001 saying that this was an injustice that needed to be rectified. No one disputes that, no one argues that the land holdings in Zimbabwe in 2000 were unsustainable, that is not the issue. The issue was how we acquired that land, how we equitably redistributed that land. That is what is objectionable about Constitutional Amendment No. 17, because it places the decision making process regarding the acquisition of land and redistribution of land not in neutral hands but an interested party. It takes that power away from our courts and gives it to a biased interested party. That is objectionable not just in the West, but in Africa and that is why it has been included here.
Madam Speaker, we have seen the progression of the so called land reform programme in the last five years when it was first debated in this honourable House, we were told that it was not designed to crush commercial agriculture. We have seen this programme degenerate into absolute lawlessness as prevails at present in our country. We have calls from none other than the Governor of the Reserve Bank in recent weeks, for an end to these ad hoc invasions which undermine our productive capacity. Those calls have been ignored because this programme has degenerated into lawlessness. That is the inevitable consequence when one takes the decision making process out of a neutral institution such as the judiciary, and places that decision making process in biased interested parties. If we are all honest with ourselves, if we travel in the country – not withstanding the rains that have blessed our nation in the last couple of months – the harsh reality on the ground is that we will still need food assistance this year. When I flew in yesterday from Bulawayo, it was very obvious from the air how many crops are yellow because of the lack of fertilizer. The tragedy we have is that despite the fact that we have had good rains throughout the country, we are still going to face massive food shortages. That is a direct consequence of laws such as Constitutional Amendment No. 17. To that extent, the African Commission was justified in criticising this amendment and calling for its repeal and an environment conducive to constitutional reform based on fundamental rights.
The fourth issue concerns the appeal made to the government of Zimbabwe to allow the African Commission special rapporteur to come and visit Zimbabwe. As you will recall last year, the rapporteur was turned back, was not given permission to investigate – (Interjection from Mr Chinamasa: “There were reasons”). Whatever the reasons for that, the following is the key issue: if this government has nothing to hide, if this government has a good record, then why block rapporteurs from coming in? If rapporteurs are going to come in and if they are going to be given unimpeded access to all aspects of our society, if this government does not fear such a visit taking place, then why not issue an invitation to allow these people to come to see for themselves what is taking place? If there is nothing to hide then what is the problem? We hope that particular call will be taken up.
In conclusion let me come back to an earlier theme. I sound like a record because I have mentioned this several times in this House. My friends appear to be deaf. The issue is that there is a correlation between the respect for human rights and long-term sustainable economic growth.
It is not a coincidence that one of the reasons why the Chinese economy is booming now is because there has been a liberalisation of many aspects of the Chinese society. It is not a coincidence that the strongest democracies in the world such as Japan, Switzerland and the USA are the strongest economies or countries that respect the rule of law, and they have the strongest economies.
The point I am making is that if we are patriots, if we love our nation as I do, as I am sure many of our colleagues do, if we love our nation and the people of this country, we will desire that our economy grows and not diminishes. It is not a question of removing targeted sanctions directed to those responsible for this situation. The answer is for us to heed the cause made by mature African institutions.
Let me remind you of the promises made by ZANU PF in the March general elections last year, in the full-page advertisements in The Herald and The Chronicle which promised that inflation will come down and that fuel will be available; that we will be reintegrating with the rest of the world and that the economy will be restored. That is all untrue because none of their promises have been fulfilled. They promised that inflation would come down to 800% in March. We have just approved a $50 000 note which is equivalent to R2. If we consider the largest denomination in South Africa – there is a R200 note and not a R50 000. Instead, we should have printed a $5 million note. What I am driving at is that we should rationalize and tell people that our economy is in free fall.
The tragedy is that many of my colleagues are not feeling the pinch. In fact, they have not been affected at all. In the last five years, poor people in the street are suffering in this country as they have never suffered before. There are people even close to us; there are people in this building who are employees of Parliament who cannot come out to say that the salaries they get are way too low. As a Parliamentarian, I had $15 million deposited into my account; it could buy something from two grocery shops but it does not come close to providing for the basic needs that any Zimbabwean family needs. If a Member of Parliament is paid so little, how much are our employees paid in this Parliament? How much are the teachers being paid? That is the harsh reality that is being ignored by my colleagues. It is time that my colleagues clean up that mess.
We start by not publishing resolutions like this. We start by considering what our African brothers and sisters are saying. The immediate thing that we need to do is to restore the rule of law. We should be giving instructions to the Attorney General, to the Commissioner of Police, to prosecute crimes without fear or favour.
The second thing that this house needs to do is to repeal repressive legislation, especially the legislation highlighted by the African Commission. The third thing is to enter into a debate linking constitutional reforms – (HONOURABLE MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections) – it is only through constitutional reforms that we can restore legitimacy to governance in this country. The fourth and final thing we need to do as a nation is to hold fresh elections in terms of that new constitution. Once we have done that, we will return legitimacy, not just to the Government of Zimbabwe, but also to our nation as a whole. We will restore the status of this country and that in turn will ensure that we can restore ties with institutions like the IMF and get our economy back on track.
For all the hot air coming from my friends – the crisis our nation is in – we need to act urgently and confront these issues if we are to resolve the problems that our nation is facing today.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I move that the debate do now adjourn. I am going to give a very detailed response to the contribution made by the Honourable Member. I do not want the Honourable Member to mislead the House and the nation as to the resolution, which was passed by the African Commission on Human and People’s rights.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 9th February 2006.
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