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Chikurubi is the most famous prison in Zimbabwe. Its reputation is well founded, Sitabile Dewa said. She would know; She spent several weeks there after being arrested in May last year on charges of trying to overthrow the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Dewa, a gender justice activist, said more than 20 people are crammed into a cell and share a toilet that does not flush. There is no running water. The diet is poor and the prison clinic has no medicine, even for minor ailments. There is no prenatal and postnatal care for pregnant or nursing mothers and their babies.
“The place is not suitable for human habitation,” he said.
More than a year after Dewa was charged, the state dropped the case against her in August this year, citing a lack of evidence. But his ordeal did not end there. Since her arrest, she has been followed and unknown vehicles park in front of her home.
Your experience is not unique. “The last two years have been dramatic and very difficult for human rights activists and defenders,” said Dewa, executive director of the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence.
“We have witnessed arbitrary arrests, torture, assaults, kidnappings, sexual abuse and harassment of women leaders such as Rita Nyampinga, Farirai Gumbonzvanda, Noxolo Maphosa, Nancy Njenge, Namatai Kwekweza, Joana Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri by alleged agents of the state security agents. The Covid-19 pandemic has not made women’s lives easier either, as the government has taken advantage of restrictions to crack down on women who dare to challenge state excesses and abuses. “
Kwekweza, 21, echoes Dewa’s experience. She is also no stranger to the inside of a jail cell, having been arrested twice for participating in protests against proposed constitutional amendments.
“I have been incarcerated twice before and I can say that the cells in Harare Central are in a dilapidated state. I speak on behalf of the detained women, frankly saying that they too are people and have rights. Women cannot be put in cold cells with flea infested blankets, concrete bunk beds without mattresses, dirty toilets without toilet paper or sanitary napkins, and towel disposal. [containers].
“The worst thing is that we were all forced to take off our shoes and I vividly remember another woman, who had been arrested in Mbare on my second arrest, and who had to walk barefoot on a wet floor on a cold July night to go to the bathroom . These experiences are a form of torture and should never happen to detained women ”.
He said the state was using heavy-handed methods to intimidate and punish young women.
“Rape, physical assault and prisons have been used as weapons against young activists for reasons such as protesting [against] famine, corruption, constitutional amendments, “said Kwekweza.
Directed opposition
Women leaders of political parties and opposition unions have also been attacked. In May, Mamombe, at the age of 27, is the youngest MP in Zimbabwe, she was arrested by police for attending a protest during the Covid-19 lockdown, along with youth leaders Chimbiri and Marova. They are all members of the Movement for Democratic Change-Alianza, the official opposition.
Before the women could be searched, they were abducted from the police station by unidentified armed men. They were beaten and sexually assaulted before being dumped on the side of the road the next day. Instead of investigating their complaints, and despite their visible injuries, the police accused the three women of fabricating accusations.
Last month, Mamombe was detained in Chikurubi prison on the order of a magistrate who said she should be locked up pending a mental examination. Just last week, on Wednesday, another judge ordered his release and described his detention as irrational.
Njenge, the 22-year-old gender secretary of the Zimbabwe National Student Union, said she has been followed and harassed for months by unidentified men who she believes are state agents. She was arrested on September 14 for allegedly participating in an illegal gathering.
“There are pathetic conditions. Considering Covid-19, cells are overcrowded and therefore unsafe. The toilets are never cleaned and dirty blankets are passed from one prisoner to another. The toilets are also in the cell rooms and you can imagine what it is like: sleeping on the floor with urine dripping from the next room. “
Njenge’s point on Covid-19 became all too real when he tested positive for the virus shortly after being released.
The attacks against women activists and leaders take place in the context of a repression of all forms of opposition to the government.
After their meeting in July, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights expressed concern, saying it was “alarmed by the arbitrary detentions and detention of journalists and women human rights defenders, including a member of parliament, who were also allegedly subjected to torture, rape and physical attacks ”.
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