Zimbabwe and the

Politics of Torture

Briefly . . .

• Since the disputed presidential elections of March 2002 (the results of which are widely

regarded as illegitimate), turmoil in Zimbabwe has faded from the international community’s attention, even though political and humanitarian crises there continue to

worsen.

• Torture and politically motivated violence are rampant. The Mugabe government has

enacted draconian laws to gag the media, restrict free speech, and discourage opposition. For example, a new law requires that any public meeting of two or more people must be authorized by police.

• The perpetrators of torture, according to experts, include agents of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) political party, police officials, agents of the Central Intelligence Organization, and, recently, members of the

pro-Mugabe youth militia, who appear to have been schooled in torture methods.

• The country faces famine as a result of severe drought and farm seizures by the government. The World Food Program reports that 46 percent of Zimbabwe’s population

—more than 5 million people—face starvation.

• The prospect of increased violence and torture looms as the main opposition party,

the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), considers organizing mass protests

against Mugabe’s retention of power.

Introduction

The widespread use of torture is not a new development in Zimbabwe, noted the panelists. It dates to the 1970s war for liberation from the white-controlled government of

Ian Smith and has been prevalent during various upheavals since then. Epidemiological

studies taken in the mid-1970s found that about 10 percent of Zimbabweans over 30

had been tortured during the so-called Smith War.

Torture was also prevalent during the so-called Gokurahundi period of the 1980s, during which the North Korea–trained Five Brigade slaughtered about 20,000 people in

Matabeleland. Amani Trust found that 50 percent of the adult residents of Matabeleland

were tortured during that period.

www.usip.org

SPECIAL REPORT

1200 17th Street NW • Washington, DC 20036 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063

SPECIAL REPORT 92 AUGUST 2002

ABOUT THE REPORT

On June 25, 2002, the U.S. Institute of Peace and

the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) convened a

Current Issues Briefing entitled “Zimbabwe: The

Mugabe Government and the Politics of Torture.”

Our principal purpose was to shed light on an issue

that has drawn little attention from the media or

from governments: the widespread use of torture as

a political tool by President Robert Mugabe’s 

regime. “The purpose of torture,” CVT says, “is to

control populations, by destroying individual 

leaders and frightening entire communities.”

The speakers at the June 25 Current Issues 

Briefing were Timothy Docking, Africa specialist 

and program officer in the Institute’s fellowship

program, who moderated the event; Douglas 

Johnson, director of the Center for Victims of 

Torture, who gave brief opening remarks; Tony Reeler,

clinical director of Amani Trust; Ray Choto, Zimbabwean journalist and research fellow at Stanford 

University, who was tortured by agents of the

Mugabe government in 1999 for refusing to reveal

sources; and John Prendergast, co-director of the

International Crisis Group’s Africa Program.

This report was written by John Brinkley,

director of public outreach at the Institute. 

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Institute of

Peace, which does not advocate specific policies.

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Current State of Affairs 2

Commercial Farm Workers 2

A Journalist’s Experience 3

Impunity 3

Responses to Date 4

Policies for Addressing the Crisis 4

Conclusions 5
Amani Trust documented torture during 1998 food riots in the capital, Harare, during

which Mugabe dispatched police and army units to quell the violence. “Massive amounts”

of torture occurred—both in the streets and in detention settings, Reeler said.

Torture has been rampant since 1999 and has been used primarily against members

and suspected members of the MDC, the main political party opposing Mugabe’s presidency. Commercial farm workers, journalists, and others have also fallen prey. Indeed, it

has become an unbroken cycle, used by the regime to control populations and suppress

opposition to Mugabe and to democratization.

The Current State of Affairs

The Mugabe government and ZANU-PF use torture as a systematic means of clinging to

power by destroying people physically and mentally and by wreaking terror on those who

might threaten Mugabe’s rule, said Reeler. 

He added that there had been an “absolute onslaught” of torture after a failed constitutional referendum that ZANU-PF sponsored in February 2000 in the hope of cementing

Mugabe’s grip on power, and to break the back of the democratic movement. Reeler said

torture had been entirely political in motivation and entirely associated with elections.

During the months preceding the March 2002 presidential elections, Amani Trust documented a rise in torture cases to about 20 per day. Oddly, Amani officials found that reports

did not decline after the election but, rather, increased to roughly 50 per day by the end

of March. Some 90 percent of victims have been members of MDC. The remainder have been

members of the legislature, teachers, trade unionists, and commercial farm workers. 

Reeler said the only way for a Zimbabwean to assure that he will not be tortured is

to be able to identify himself as a member of ZANU-PF. “I think it’s no joke to say that

in Zimbabwe, by our figures, probably 20 percent of the entire population has had intimate experience with torture.”

Torture methods popular with ZANU-PF and others include beating the soles of victims’ feet and subjecting various body parts to electric shock. Amani Trust has also seen

many victims with ruptured eardrums, produced by percussive slapping of their ears.

Reeler said this was not an incidental result of victims being hit on the head, but rather

a deliberate and practiced slapping of the ears with the purpose of inflicting pain and

long-term hearing damage.

Reeler said beating the soles of victims’ feet was a newly popular torture method. He

called this a “hard indicator” of torture in that it is impossible to beat a person that way

without removing his shoes and restraining him. 

Rape cases, which Reeler said could only be described as “political rape,” are prevalent. The victims are typically women who belong to MDC, are married to MDC members,

or are so suspected. Their attackers tell them that is why they are being raped. The prevalence of this is hard to document, however, because rape victims seldom come forward

and report the assaults.

Commercial Farm Workers

One population that has recently begun to experience a high degree of torture is commercial farm workers, poor black Africans who live and work on farms belonging to white

land-owners. Under a so-called land reform program that Mugabe initiated, large, whiteowned farms are being seized and turned over to black Zimbabweans. These white-owned

farms collectively employ hundreds of thousands of poor, black workers who lose their

homes and jobs when the farms are seized. Thus, these people tend to oppose Mugabe

and ZANU-PF and to support MDC and this makes them vulnerable to torture.

A recent Amani Trust study of farm workers who had been thrown off their farms found

2

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chester A. Crocker (Chairman), James R. Schlesinger

Professor of Strategic Studies, School of Foreign Service,

Georgetown University • Seymour Martin Lipset (Vice

Chairman), Hazel Professor of Public Policy, George

Mason University • Betty F. Bumpers, Founder and 

former President, Peace Links, Washington, D.C. 

• Holly J. Burkhalter, Advocacy Director, Physicians for

Human Rights, Washington, D.C. • Marc E. Leland, Esq.,

President, Marc E. Leland & Associates, Arlington, Va. 

• Mora L. McLean, Esq., President, Africa-America Institute, New York, N.Y. • María Otero, President, ACCION

International, Boston, Mass. • Barbara W. Snelling, former State Senator and former Lieutenant Governor, Shelburne, Vt. • Harriet Zimmerman, Vice President, American

Israel Public Affairs Committee, Washington, D.C.

MEMBERS EX OFFICIO

Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor • Douglas J. Feith, Under

Secretary of Defense for Policy • Paul G. Gaffney II, Vice

Admiral, U.S. Navy; President, National Defense University • Richard H. Solomon, President, United States

Institute of Peace (nonvoting)
3

that 71 percent of those interviewed—139 men and women—had been tortured in the

recent past and 55 percent of children had witnessed the torture of adults.

“One could extrapolate from . . . studies of commercial farm workers that 400,000 of

them and their families have been tortured,” Reeler said.

A particularly serious consequence is that many victims suffer from long-term 

psychological damage and require intensive psychiatric treatment. Amani Trust found

that about 80 percent of commercial farm workers who had been tortured had “active,

clinically significant, psychological disorder due to trauma.”

A Journalist’s Experience

Independent journalists in Zimbabwe operate under severe restrictions on what they can

report. Journalists who write articles that criticize Mugabe or otherwise offend the government are officially subject to arrest and imprisonment and unofficially subject to torture. A new law entitled the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act

effectively criminalizes free speech. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) criminalizes public meetings and the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) outlaws the publication of anything deemed “likely to cause alarm and despondency.”

“Every time you write a story, you are likely to be arrested, because [of] the way the

law is worded,” said Ray Choto, formerly chief writer for the Harare newspaper The Standard. He was arrested in 1999 under LOMA for refusing to reveal the names of military

officials he had met with while researching an article about a planned military coup and

the subsequent arrests of 23 officers. He and his editor, Mark Chavanduka, were turned

over to the military and tortured.

“We were beaten with wooden planks, forced to roll on wet tarmac,” Choto wrote in

a 2000 report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Our heads were forced

into a canvas bag full of water. The military applied electric shocks all over our bodies.

. . . Our tormentors told us that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe had signed our

death warrants and I believed them.”

Choto and Chavanduka were not tried for their alleged violations. After their release

from captivity, they mounted a civil court challenge. The Zimbabwean Supreme Court

agreed that the section of the law under which they had been charged was unconstitutional and overturned it. The court also ordered an investigation of their detention and

torture, but Choto believes the government neither has begun an investigation nor

intends one. “The government cannot convince us that they are still investigating, when

I handed myself over personally to the police,” he said. “The police handed me over to

the military where I and my colleague were subsequently tortured. What are they investigating? They know who they turned us over to.”

Choto’s case illustrates the cynical way in which the Mugabe regime has tried to repress

free speech, frighten and injure its opponents, and undermine the process of democratization.

Impunity

Reeler said the prevalence of torture in Zimbabwe is directly linked to a culture of

impunity. That is, after every spasm of war or social upheaval since the 1970s war for

independence, a law has been passed forgiving all those who committed human rights

violations and other excesses. Mugabe has also issued numerous presidential pardons.

“Torture is not merely a manifestation of the Mugabe regime, it has a long history,” Reeler said. “It’s the way in which we Zimbabweans have elected to solve our political disputes.

We don’t have dialogue, we have violence. And when we have violence, we basically use torture. And when we’re done with torture and with violence, then we forgive everybody.”

A recent Amani Trust study of

farm workers who had been

thrown off their farms found

that 71 percent of those interviewed—139 men and

women—had been tortured in

the recent past and 55 percent

of children had witnessed the

torture of adults.

“Our tormentors told us that

Zimbabwean president Robert

Mugabe had signed our death

warrants and I believed them.”
4

This happened in 1975, when Prime Minster Ian Smith enacted a law forgiving the

excesses of his security forces during the war for independence. It happened again in

1980 after Zimbabwe won its independence, and again in 1987 following the Matabeleland emergency. Mugabe has enacted clemency laws forgiving torture and other

offenses in 2000 and 2002, and has issued a number of presidential pardons. Under the

2000 law, murder, rape, and “crimes of dishonesty” could be prosecuted, but kidnapping,

burning down people’s houses, and torture could not.

In addition to de jure impunity, human rights violators in the Mugabe government generally enjoy de facto impunity. Reeler said police simply refuse to investigate allegations of

torture and murder, often saying the crimes are political in nature and therefore outside their

jurisdiction. For example, Joseph Mali, a Central Intelligence Organization officer, faces

charges for his role in the murders of two MDC activists—murders to which there were witnesses—after their release from captivity but no investigation has been started, Reeler said.

“We have not learned that torture’s a terrible thing in Zimbabwe,” Reeler said. “What

we have in fact done is we’ve ensured that its victims are utterly silenced. That also, in

our view, encourages repetition. I know of no way not to conclude that among Zimbabweans and in Zimbabwe, torture is an acceptable way to deal with political conflict.”

Responses to Date from the Region and the World

Despite the courageous work of people like Ray Choto and Tony Reeler, little international

attention has been paid to Zimbabwe’s plight. One reason is that torture’s after-effects generally are not visible—no body bags, as in the Balkans, or mutilation, as in Sierra Leone.

Another is that western governments and media have been particularly focused on the Middle East and the war on terrorism. And a third, related to the second, is that Africa historically has not been a high priority for policymakers in the developed world.

Neither Zimbabwe’s neighbors in southern Africa nor the international community has

done much to try to ameliorate the crisis there, said John Prendergast. “The United States

has barked, but not bitten, as has the European Union, South Africa, and Nigeria,” said

Prendergast.

South Africa and Nigeria said they would pursue quiet diplomacy before the March

elections and would take a harder line after them in the absence of a response. They

have not followed through. The two regional powers did facilitate talks between ZANUPF and MDC, but ZANU-PF walked out of them.

The European Union said that if the elections were stolen, they would increase pressure against Mugabe. But they have not done so, and a feeling exists among member

states that the Zimbabwe crisis is beyond responding to diplomatic pressure.

The United Nations appears blind to the crisis, Prendergast said. Neither the Security

Council nor the Human Rights Commission has acted or spoken out against Mugabe’s tyranny. When Reeler appealed to the Human Rights Commission for help in 2000, a member

noted that more people were killed in Gaza on an average day than in all of Zimbabwe.

The U.S. Government has said the March election was stolen and the result illegitimate, but has taken little concrete action beyond banning Mugabe and his associates

from traveling to the United States. Prendergast said, however, there were hopeful signs

from the Bush administration, which was “engaged in a serious internal process” that

could result in significant pressure being applied against ZANU-PF.

Policies to Address the Crisis

Prendergast said there were three apparent options for trying to affect change in Zimbabwe: 

• Constructive engagement to try to nudge Mugabe and ZANU-PF toward democracy.

After every spasm of war or

social upheaval since the 1970s

war for independence, a law has

been passed forgiving all those

who committed human rights

violations and other excesses. 

Neither Zimbabwe’s neighbors

in southern Africa nor the international community has done

much to try to ameliorate the

crisis there.
5

• An active international effort to get ZANU-PF and MDC together for negotiations.

• Total isolation of Mugabe's government.

The first option, he said, would only reward ZANU-PF for its corruption and brutality

to date. The second will work only if South Africa is willing to exert serious pressure

against Mugabe, but it has shown no inclination to do so. The third option, an effort by

the international community to ostracize the Mugabe government, will require a great

deal of political will, but is the preferable course of action, Prendergast said.

The first step in such a response should be a freezing of Mugabe’s and ZANU-PF’s

assets around the world. [A July 1 federal court ruling could lead to an asset freeze in

the United States. A federal magistrate in New York recommended a $73 million civil

penalty against ZANU-PF for torturing and murdering political opponents. The case was

filed in 2000 by members of MDC, who said ZANU-PF enforcers had tortured them and

killed some of their relatives. A U.S. law allows foreign nationals to file international law

claims in U.S. courts when conditions prevent them from filing them in their home countries’ courts. The U.S. court cannot force ZANU-PF to honor the judgment against it, but

the ruling could facilitate the seizure of ZANU-PF assets in the United States.]

Prendergast made several other recommendations, including:

• An aid package to help strengthen alliances among trade unions, civil society, MDC,

and other opponents of the Mugabe regime.

• A clear signal from the U.S. government that U.S. support for the New Partnership for

African Development (NEPAD) be tied directly to South Africa’s willingness to address

forcefully the Zimbabwe crisis. NEPAD is a collective agreement by African leaders to

eradicate poverty and to set their nations on a path of democracy, sustainable economic growth, and development.

• An international effort to stop ZANU-PF from looting the natural, mineral, and agricultural

resources of Congo and using those resources to finance its reign of terror in Zimbabwe.

Conclusions

Any one of the political, humanitarian, and public health situations prevailing in Zimbabwe could fairly be described as a crisis in its own right. The convergence of all of

them with the looming threat of mass starvation due to drought and the disruptive

effects of farm seizures by the Mugabe government portend a truly catastrophic state of

affairs. Mass deaths due to starvation and civil violence, a refugee exodus, increased

crime, and economic ruin all appear possible. These looming eventualities threaten

greater crises not just for Zimbabwe, but for all of southern Africa. 

Yet the international community has not been particularly attentive to Zimbabwe’s

troubles. Nor has the western media, whose interest seems limited to elections and

seizures of white-owned farms.

And Zimbabweans themselves seem inured to the violence that characterizes their

political life.

Donor countries and international financial institutions have an opportunity to help

relieve the multi-faceted crisis. Options include:

• Tying support for the NEPAD initiative to African governments’ willingness to exert

pressure on Mugabe and ZANU-PF to stop the torture and political violence against

their opponents and to agree to talks with MDC.

• A freezing of Zimbabwean assets held in American, European, and other financial

institutions.

• Financial and logistical support for alliance-building among the MDC, trade unions,

civil society, and other anti-Mugabe elements in Zimbabwean society.

Zimbabweans themselves 

seem inured to the violence 

that characterizes their 

political life.
Despite the dire state of affairs that prevails there, Zimbabwe is not a lost cause. A concerted and coordinated effort by developed countries, the United Nations, international

financial organizations, and Zimbabwe’s neighbors could save the country from the devastation toward which it seems to be hurdling.

Related Resources

• Amnesty International (http://web.amnesty.org) on June 26 released “Zimbabwe:

The Toll of Impunity.” 

• Through the auspices of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (http://www.

lchr.org/defender), a group of Zimbabwean NGOs organized under the name Crisis in

Zimbabwe Coalition on June 20 released a report describing the political and economic current state of affairs in that country. This report includes detailed case studies of politically motivated violence and torture from March to May 2002. 

• Amani Trust, a Harare-based organization that documents torture and assists its victims (http://www.oneworld.org/amani), on June 25 released a compendium of the

180 cases reported so far in 2002.

For more information on this topic, see

our web site (www.usip.org), which has

an online edition of this report containing links to related web sites, as well as

additional information on the subject.

United States 

Institute of Peace

1200 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20036

Despite the dire state of affairs

that prevails there, Zimbabwe is

not a lost cause.