Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides)-“The government of Zimbabwe has adopted a control system of the colonial era” said Catholic Archbishop Pius Alick Ncube of Bulawayo commenting the presentation of a report on abuse committed by the police in Zimbabwe.
The report, presented in Johannesburg, South Africa, by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and the Fund for Peace in Solidarity, denounces the police for extensive use of torture: 33 per cent of all political prisoners are subject to all kinds of abuse and torture.
The Archbishop says 90 per cent of those arrested for political reasons are never given a court hearing and only 1.5 per cent of those tried for political crimes are condemned. The report says that between 2000 and 2005, 1,981 people were arrested on political grounds. These arrests, the report says, were possible thanks to “a brutal and repressive law against citizens”. The regime of President Robert Mugabe is increasingly authoritative and anti-democratic. The recent decision taken by the President’s Congress Party to postpone to 2010 elections set for 2008 is an excuse to keep Mugabe in power for another 3 years.
The leader of ZANU PF said the resolution will now be examined by the central committee of the Party, but to pass it will need the approval of Parliament. However this is a mere formality because the President’s party has an overwhelming parliamentary majority.
The extension of the presidential mandate has been harshly criticised by the opposition and independent experts who fear reaction for an international community already exasperated by the policy of Mugabe, who used violence to impose the distribution of land belonging to Europeans not considering the needs of production.
Zimbabwe, once the granary of southern Africa, is in its seventh year of economic recession with 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line and an inflation rate of 1000 per cent. Ever more isolated internationally: the country left the Commonwealth in 2003 and is subject to sanctions by both the United Nations and the European Union . (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/12/2006 righe 33 parole 401)
