Monthly Event Reports
February 2024 | Ruling party wins by-elections after opposition candidates were excluded
In the three months following the August 2023 general election, 27 of the members of the National Assembly (as well as 14 Senators and a number of local councillors) from the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) were fraudulently recalled, triggering by-elections for those seats. The High Court in Harare ruled in December that the recalled members of parliament could not contest the by-elections as CCC candidates, essentially shutting the party out of several of the constituencies. The second set of by-elections was held on 3 February. In these elections, the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) won all six seats, giving the party a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. The CCC’s founding leader, Nelson Chamisa, had already quit the party on 25 January, and the party has weakened further as other politicians have left the party since the by-elections.
November 2023 | Fraudulent recall of opposition parliamentarians continues
The chaos within Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), deepened in November as Sengezo Tshabangu, a man purporting to be the party’s Secretary-General, submitted letters recalling a further 13 MPs and five Senators, whose seats were then declared vacant by the parliamentary Speaker and the President of the Senate on 14 November. In October, he recalled 14 MPs and nine senators. The High Court has also ruled that no further CCC MPs can be recalled until Tshabangu’s authority to issue the recalls has been determined. Separately, a legal application for reinstatement made by the first group of recalled parliamentarians (those recalled in October) was dismissed, meaning that by-elections to fill their seats will take place on 9 December. The recalls have been criticised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which also raised concerns about physical attacks on opposition legislators by state actors – a trend that has intensified in the lead up to the December by-elections.
October 2023 | Opposition party thrown into chaos by fraudulent recall of parliamentarians
In October, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change, was thrown into chaos by a letter to the parliamentary speaker from a man fraudulently claiming to be the party’s Secretary-General and recalling 14 of its MPs and nine of its senators. Despite a request from the CCC’s leader, Nelson Chamisa, that the letter be disregarded, the parliamentary Speaker and the President of the Senate, who are both members of the governing Zanu-PF party, declared the seats to be vacant, triggering by-elections that create an opportunity for Zanu-PF to achieve a two-thirds majority in the legislature and with it the ability to amend the constitution. The speaker’s decision prompted protests from CCC MPs, who were subsequently suspended for six parliamentary sittings after riot police were called to eject the MPs from the chamber. Chamisa later said CCC would ‘disengage’ from lawmaking. The recalled MPs have challenged their recall in court.
September 2023 | Rise in political violence amidst post-election government crackdown
Following Zimbabwe’s election on 23 August, media and human rights organisations reported a rise in political violence as government forces cracked down on opposition politicians, supporters and human rights defenders. Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum (ZHRF), a Human Rights NGO, documented 316 incidents of organised violence and torture between 24 August and 30 September 2023 (an increase on the 274 incidents it recorded during the volatile post-electoral period in 2018). The types of violence documented by the ZHRF include arbitrary arrest, torture, enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. Reports indicate that the victims were predominantly members or supporters of the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), and that they were targeted because of their association with the CCC. The perpetrators are thought to have been members of state security agencies and supporters of the ruling party, Zanu-PF.
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