Human rights organizations reacted angrily Tuesday after Zimbabwe's ruling party acknowledged that more than 100 activists were detained to keep them from protesting during a Southern Africa Development Community summit held over the past weekend.
Authorities said they will start to release those who were detained now that the meeting is over.
Speaking with journalists in Harare, ruling ZANU-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa defended detaining the activists.
“Those are deviants, and they were dealt with properly. And we are very happy they failed. And they will never succeed again,” Mutsvangwa said as he giggled at several points during his comments.
Roselyn Hanzi, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing the activists, said that their detention is no laughing matter.
“Every person in Zimbabwe should be worried where the ruling party openly admits that it fully controls one of the key arms of government that is supposed to provide checks and balances and in fact protect the citizens from the excesses of the other two arms: the legislature and the executive,” she told VOA.
“The judiciary is very key and plays a central role in protecting citizens and ensuring that their rights are realized,” she said. “In this case, you see them admitting that there [are] those people that wanted to protest. ... Protest[ing] is not criminal, and it’s not a privilege. You should not be negotiating or begging for it.”
Zimbabwe’s Judicial Service Commission did not comment Tuesday when contacted by VOA.
Mary Lawlor, a U.N. special rapporteur on human rights, called for the immediate release of the activists, alleging that some had been tortured during their detainment by Zimbabwean authorities. State prosecutors and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission said they are investigating the allegations.
“The disrespect shown by the ZANU-PF spokesperson who laughed and joked about such a serious matter at his press conference is telling,” Lawlor said. “The president, [Emmerson] Mnangagwa, has shown how little he believes in the rule of law and how little in SADC’s commitment to human rights as chairman. He wants to pretend that everything in Zimbabwe is rosy and fine. But it is not fine. These charges were a travesty.”
Since taking over in 2017, Mnangagwa has maintained that he is a constitutionalist and respects the rule of law.
But rights lawyer and legislator Daniel Molokele said the law is being selectively applied against democracy activists. Molokele is a member of the country’s main opposition party — the Citizens Coalition for Change — whose members were arrested ahead of the SADC meeting.
“I think what the ZANU-PF spokesperson said clearly confirms what we have always said is happening in Zimbabwe,” Molokele said. “There is too much political interference in the judicial system. There is no rule of law in Zimbabwe. We do not have a proper judicial system because it's clear that ZANU-PF is abusing our court system for its political benefit.”
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it hopes the detained activists will be released soon, now that the SADC summit is over. The group said it will decide what steps to take next after hearing from the activists.
