Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe have accused the government of abusing human rights and violating injustice, and demanded a swift denial by the administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who described the accusations as “evil” and baseless.
In a pastoral letter read at Catholic churches on Sunday, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe said the country was suffering from “a multilayered crisis”, including economic collapse, deepening poverty, corruption and human rights abuses .
“Fear streams the backs of many of our people today. The collapse of dissent is unusual,” the bishops said in the heavily edited letter.
“Is this the Zimbabwe we want? Having a different opinion does not mean being an enemy.”
In response, Minister Monica Mutsvangwa criticized the head of the bishops’ conference, Archbishop Robert Ndlovu, and described the pastoral letter as an “evil message” intended to incite a “Rwanda-type genocide”.
“Syn [Ndlovu’s] transgressions are taking on a geopolitical dimension as chief priests of the regime change agenda that has characterized the post-imperial great Western powers for the last two decades, “Mutsvangwa said in a statement.
At least 20 Protestants were arrested for participating in ill-fated demonstrations against alleged state corruption and economic hardship on July 31. All are accused of inciting public violence and being released on bail.
Critics of the government and legal groups say the recent wave of arrests and alleged abuse of rights is reminiscent of the much-anticipated tactics used by Mnangagwa’s predecessor Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years.
“Zimbabweans are witnessing unusual abuses that may be far less than witnessing under Mugabe,” Dewa Mavhinga, the South African director of Human Rights Watch, told Al Al Jazeera last week, calling “a sharp increase in kidnappings, torture” and sexual abuse directed at government critics and security forces involved “.
Like Mugabe, Mnangagwa says Western countries are funding the opposition to overthrow his government.
Mnangagwa came to power after removing Mugabe’s army in November 2017. He went on to win a contested election the following year, promising to tackle corruption and rebuild the country’s devastated economy.
Two years later, however, Zimbabwe is facing a severe economic crisis, marked by rising inflation, high unemployment, a shortage of foreign exchange and a rapidly declining local currency against the US dollar.
But the government again denied on Saturday that there was a crisis, even when official statistics showed that inflation had risen to nearly 840 percent.
Mnangagwa has pursued policies “that result in a robust economy” and has “kept the country fairly stable,” the government said in a statement.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Law Society of Zimbabwe joined the bishops and international groups in claiming the country’s “losing human rights situation”, adding that lawyers were also under attack from government agents.
“The law society condemns the abduction and torture of citizens in the country by state security agents and individuals who are apparently unknown but aligned with the state,” it said.
The government denies the allegations.
“Nothing informs the arrest of suspected criminals in our country other than the commission of a crime. Anyone arrested in Zimbabwe will have prosecutors against him like her, and all cases will be brought quickly to court,” he said. government spokesman Nick Mangwana told Al Jazeera earlier this month.
“As far as we are concerned, no conflicting voices have been polluted in Zimbabwe.”
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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