20-27 November 2015

Media Monitoring Report Zimbabwe (20-27 November 2015)

Posted on November 27, 2015

Compiled by – MIGS Desk Officer for Zimbabwe – Pierre Bussières

Zim marks 16 days against GBV, November 25, Zimbabwe broadcasting corporation

Zimbabwe has joined the rest of the world in commemorating 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence amid calls for harsher penalties of up to 30 years and even life sentences for perpetrators of rape.
Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Cde Nyasha Chikwinya says rape cases are on the increase
Cde Nyasha adds stiffening penalties is the only way to end the problem. Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Cde Nyasha Chikwinya says rape cases are on the increase

Zimbabwe First Lady’s rape stance defies logic, November 24, BusinessBDlive

Grace Mugabe, wife to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe spoke out to lay the blame on women for rapes. "If you are raped, it’s your fault," said Zimbabwe’s First Lady, Grace Mugabe
Grace Mugabe is well-known for her disapproval of skirts. She also criticized then vice-president Joice Mujuru for wearing a short skirt, saying he was "trying to seduce a man".
Grace’s pro-rape sympathies are thought to have encouraged a group of taxi rank touts who "attacked and stripped a young woman, accusing her of inappropriate dressing"

ZLHR lawyers call for safeguard of right to liberty, November 24, Bulawayo

ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) called upon the legislature to enforce a provision for pre-trial rights for those accused of criminal offenses
ZLHR Communications officer Kumbirai Mafunda told Bulawayo Section 121 (3) of the CPEA - has been routinely abused by prosecutors from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) over the years to veto bail orders granted by judicial officers
‘’Section 121 (3) of the CPEA was mostly invoked in cases involving charges of a politically-related character and also cases invariably involving human rights defenders, said Mafunda

International rights groups petition Mugabe over Dzamara, November 21, Newsday

Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have joined forces in a plea to President Robert Mugabe to investigate the disappearance of journalist-cum-human rights activist Itai Dzamara.
“We call on you to promptly establish a commission of enquiry into the enforced disappearance of Itai Dzamara and ensure that those suspected of criminal responsibility are brought to justice in fair trials. The pro-democracy activist has not been accounted for since his disappearance on March 9, 2015,” the document read.
The 36-year-old pro-democracy activist is thought to have been abducted by State security agents by a barber shop in Harare’s Glen View suburb.

Zimbabwe's Long Road in Ending Poverty and Hunger, November 27, IPS

As price of commodities keep spiking, Zimstat reports that at least 72% of Zimbabweans live below the poverty line
Earlier this year, the World Food Programme estimated at 2.2 million the number of Zimbabwean in need of food aid. The country’s populations is 14 million.
Education officials say thousands of primary school children in Matebeleland North and South provinces who subsisted on domestic food stocks have dropped out of classes this term because of hunger.
Tapiwa Gomo, a researcher at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Zimbabwe will need a broad political commitment to address growing hunger and poverty.

Zimbabwe: More Workers Lose Jobs in Manufacturing, November 27, Zimbabwe Independent

Over the last years, cheap mported furniture from China, Dubai and South Africa flooded the country, leaving local companies with an ever smaller share of the national market.
It is estimated that around 300,000 workers have lost their jobs due to July 17 Supreme Court ruling allowing employers to retrench employees on three months' notice without paying severance packages.

Montreal Institute for Genocide and
Human Rights Studies