LATEST FROM ZIMBABWE

Dear Friends

Compliments of the new season!

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum notes with concern the challenges and difficulties faced by Zimbabweans in general and civil society activists in particular as the year begins. We today have statements from three member organisations as well as a comment from the new African UN Security Council member Uganda.

Today, 6 January 2009 our member organization, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) released a timeline of what has transpired in the matters of the located abductees from 25 December 2008 to the morning of 6 January 2009. We attach the timeline.

On the same issue, on 5 January 2008, our member organisation, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) issued an alert wherein they advised that the Executive Director of our other member organisation, the Zimbabwe Peace Project, Jestina Mukoko, who had missing since 3 December 2008 had surfaced in court on 24 December 2008 ending 3 weeks of speculation on her safety and whereabouts. Also to appear in the court of law was freelance photojournalists Shadreck Manyere who had been missing since 13 December 2008. Mukoko’s appearance in court has, however, opened a series of legal battles to secure her release.

On the same day, MISA-Zimbabwe also advised of the despair of Zimbabweans over the new cellular foreign currency payment system in terms of which mobile network service providers Econet, NetOne and Telecell are now charging in United States dollars after being granted foreign currency licenses by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. It is feared that the new system will adversely affect the communication needs of the majority of Zimbabweans who are already struggling to make ends meet in a hyperinflationary environment which has spawned untold economic hardships on the populace.

Both MISA-Zimbabwe alerts are available on;
http://www.misazim.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=407&Itemid=1

Also on 5 January 2006, our member organization, Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) released its 2008 annual report. The report highlights the drastic deterioration of living conditions within Zimbabwe’s prisons as reflected by unhygienic conditions, lack of proper food, medical facilities and care, spread of diseases – in particular HIV Aids and opportunistic diseases such as Tuberculosis (TB) as well as shortage of clothing.

ZACRO also reports its involvement with the rehabilitation, integration, restoration and provision of humanitarian assistance to the inmates and ex-offenders while advocating for liberal penal reforms involving positive human rights programming.

The report is available on request.

Uganda replaced South Africa as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council with effect from 1 January 2009. The Herald of 6 January 2009 reports a ‘recent’ interview of UN Radio with Uganda’s Ambassador to the UN, Mr Francis Butagira on Uganda’s position on Zimbabwe in the Security Council. The said ‘recent’ interview was in fact held on 20 October 2008 and you can listen to the full interview on the following link; /http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/news/detail/21921.html/