African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

Header Banner

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
PoliticsZimbabwe

Pastors in prison: Zimbabwe’s familiar cycle of repression grinds into action

By Problem Masau
March 1, 2017
3174
0
Share:

In the face of political threats, President Mugabe’s government has fallen back on its strategy of arresting critics. But the opposition insists it will not be intimidated.

Activists march in solidarity in Bulawayo, 2010. Credit: Sokwanele-Zimbabwe.

As Pastor Evan Mawarire re-entered Zimbabwe at the start of February, he was hoping for an uneventful end to his journey. After six months in self-imposed exile in the US, the activist who inspired the opposition #ThisFlag movement intended to return home quickly and quietly.

[Fed up, unafraid, and just getting started: What Zimbabwe’s #ThisFlag must do now]

But it was not to be. As Mawarire landed at Harare Airport, he was immediately whisked away by nine Central Intelligence Officers. He was arrested and, amongst other things, now faces charges of subverting a constitutionally-elected government, an offence which carries a minimum 20-year jail term.

Mawarire’s experience was widely covered, but he is just the latest in a long and growing list of Zimbabwean activists facing charges after speaking out against President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF administration.

In the past few months, there has been a notable escalation of arrests of outspoken individuals, and with the 2018 elections on the horizon, human rights groups warn that things are set to get worse.

Cycle of abuse

In many ways, Mugabe is facing one of his most fragile moments since coming to power 37 years ago. The economy is in free fall. There are internal divisions within the ruling ZANU-PF. And when the election rolls by, the 93-year-old leader’s age and health will prevent him from embarking on any kind of vigorous campaign.

[Zimbabwe: How long can Mugabe survive without the war veterans?]

Moreover, his former vice-president Joice Mujuru is currently discussing a coalition with long-time opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. And last year, in part triggered by Mawarire’s activism, Zimbabwe saw several widespread protests against the government.

In the face of all these threats, Mugabe’s government has fallen back on its tried and tested strategy of jailing critics. This is a tactic familiar to the administration and one that it typically ratchets up as elections approach.

“Zimbabwe has had this cyclical human rights abuse since 2000,” says Fortune Gwaze, a political researcher at the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute. “We have a hybrid regime which subscribes to democracy but does not believe in a level electoral field.”

As well as Mawarire, the list of individuals that have recently seen the inside of a cell includes figures such as Linda Masarira, Acie Lumumba, Denford Ngadziore, Whatmore Makokoba, Promise Mkwananzi and Stan Zvorwadza.

It is also includes another pastor, Phillip Mugadza, who was arrested in January for prophesying that Mugabe will die this October. Mugadza was initially charged with undermining the authority of the president, but his alleged crime was changed to “insulting people of a certain race” after prosecutors claimed he insulted the Christian religion and African traditions by breaking the taboo of predicting someone’s death.

In the name of the law

Speaking about the increase of arrests, Supa Mandiwanzira, Minister for Information Communication Technology, emphasises the importance of the law.

“It is very important that the world understands that Zimbabwe is very serious about the rule of law,” he says. “It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you are a politician, a traditional leader, a businessman or a church leader. If you break the law, it will take its course.”

But many human rights bodies in the country believe that it is the arrests of activists have been in contravention of Zimbabwe’s legal protections.

“The government of Zimbabwe is unnecessarily blemishing its already questionable human rights record by holding citizens in jail for solely expressing political opinions,” says Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), a body that monitors rights abuses.

Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, calls the situation “worrying”, saying that: “These charges are designed to stop human rights activism and to punish them for speaking out about the declining human rights situation.”

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Harare issued a statement in the wake of Mawarire and Mugadza’s arrests, saying: “We fear these recent actions will further limit the right of Zimbabweans to exercise their Constitutionally-protected freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.”

“The will arrest some but not all”

Amongst the many individuals now facing trial, some such as Promise Mkwananzi of the #Tajamuka movement, believe the cases against them will crumble in court because they lack merit.

But others such as Mawarire, who is out on bail, are preparing for the worst. He reveals that he is in the process of recruiting others who could step into his shoes to organise protests in pursuit of “the dream” in case he faces a long jail sentence.

Either way, observers such as Gwaze suggest that this is just the start of the government’s clampdown and that it is likely to extend its repression even further as the elections get nearer.

“As political temperatures go some decibels up, opposition key figures will soon be arrested and their rallies banned,” he says.

Despite this, many activists and opposition leaders insist that they will not cower in the face of government threats. They say that they will continue to protest, mobilise and speak out for as long as it takes.

“This is vintage ZANU-PF, and the message coming is out of this is that ZANU-PF will go for broke in the campaign ahead of the next election,” says opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been subjected to government repression for the past two decades. “The world must brace for impunity and violence against the innocent of our country.”

“They will arrest some but not all individuals. We will continue fighting for justice.”

Problem Masau is a Zimbabwean journalist.

Previous Article

Strike and upheaval: The myth of trickle-down, ...

Next Article

“Who is South Africa to humiliate Nigeria?”

Problem Masau

Leave a reply Cancel reply

  • EastPolitics

    Netanyahu’s East Africa tour and Israel’s secret aid-for-asylum-seekers scheme

  • Politics

    Kenya: Truth, Justice, Reconciliation, and… Land Tenure Reform?

  • Politics

    Buhari’s Tough Challenge in Nigeria – By Nnamdi Obasi

Subscribe to our newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • 81664
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Popular articles

  • President João Lourenço of Angola on a state visit to South Africa in 2017. Credit: GCIS.

    Angola’s regime pushes back against a growing and united opposition

  • Riot police take to the streets of Port Louis. Credit: Vel Moonien.

    Mauritius protests: “When people feel lost, they resort to revolt”

  • www.quotecatalog.com/quotes/inspirational

    A year on from the Ho 21 arrests, queer Ghanaians fear more to come

  • Doctors perform obstetric fistula surgery in Eldoret, Kenya. Credit: Heidi Breeze-Harris/One By One.

    The solvable health issue that kills more than malaria, AIDS and TB

  • Rasha Mekky with her adopted son Mostafa. Credit: Rasha Mekky.

    “People said it’s haram”: Happy mums show reality of adoption in Egypt

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • en English
    am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
Cleantalk Pixel
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
en English
am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
African Arguments wants to hear from you!

Take 5 minutes to fill in this short reader survey and you could win three African Arguments books of your choice…as well as our eternal gratitude.