Pachena
AS Zimbabwe celebrated its election to the UN Security Council, a new report by the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) reveals that April 2026 saw 145 documented human rights violations affecting nearly 4,000 victims, with the ruling Zanu PF party and state security forces allegedly leading the charge.
BY BRENNA MATENDERE
When Zimbabwe took its seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) last month- a body mandated to maintain international peace and security- a human rights organisation back home was busy tallying a grim count of abductions, assaults, forced political coercion, and unlawful arrests allegedly carried out in broad daylight.
The ZPP has documented 145 human rights violations in April 2026 alone, affecting 3,675 victims. Of these victims, 1,887 are women, including eight with disabilities, and 1,788 men, six of whom also have disabilities. Zimbabwe was elected to the UNSC on June 3, replacing Somalia and joining Austria, Portugal, and Trinidad and Tobago as newly elected non-permanent members.
According to the ZPP report, perpetrators affiliated with the ruling Zanu PF accounted for the largest share of abusers at 53.72 percent, followed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) at 13.5 percent, suspected state security agents at 6.89 percent, and traditional leaders at 6.61 percent. The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) constituted 2.75 percent of perpetrators.
“Citizens were subjected to threats of violence, assaults, abductions, unlawful detention, unjustified arrests, and other forms of inhuman treatment,” the ZPP report states, adding that cases of restricted freedoms of assembly, association, and expression were also recorded, “alongside politically motivated discrimination in access to government support, social services, and administrative justice.”
Among the most alarming incidents was the pre-dawn abduction of six opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members on April 23, when heavily armed individuals, travelling in Mahindra vehicles and carrying AK-47 rifles and pistols, simultaneously removed the activists from their homes at around 3am without warrants or identification.
The victims, believed to have been targeted for distributing fliers and mobilising for a planned demonstration, were later located at Harare Central Police Station. A seventh MDC member was arrested simply for visiting the station to follow up on a protest notice. All seven were subsequently charged with “inciting violence.”
The ZRP had already banned the demonstration despite prior legal notification having been submitted. The detained members were assaulted and tortured in custody; a female detainee sustained facial swelling and an eye injury and was held in cells together with male detainees.
In a separate case, Defend the Constitution Platform youth leader Emmanuel Sitima was seized from a shopping centre in Mabvuku, publicly branded a thief, assaulted, and bundled into an unmarked vehicle before being delivered to Harare Central Police Station. He has since been repeatedly denied bail on allegations of malicious damage to property involving goods valued at just US$10.
The ZPP report also highlights a disturbing pattern of administrative abuse. In Chipinge, a District Schools Inspector ordered teachers to contribute up to US$5 towards Independence Day celebrations, threatening professional repercussions for non-compliance. In Chimanimani, a primary school compelled pupils from Grades 3 to 7 to attend paid holiday lessons- at fees of up to US$12.
This was allegedly done without the knowledge of the School Development Committee. And in Masvingo South, community members seeking medication at a rural clinic were reportedly forced to pay unofficial fees of US$2 for adults and US$1 for children, with the clinic administration apparently unaware of the arrangement.
Political coercion also ran rife. In Chiweshe Ward 1, a Zanu PF official moved door-to-door compelling villagers to sign pre-populated forms endorsing the Constitutional Amendment Bill (3), thus “undermining their freedoms of expression, political choice, and association.”
In Kadoma, a commuter omnibus operator was barred from working and threatened with having his vehicles burned after refusing to display Zanu PF campaign stickers. In Chitungwiza, vendors were told they could not access trading stalls unless they attended Zanu PF meetings.
The ZPP, established in 2000, noted that the April figures exclude violations recorded during the Constitutional Amendment Bill public hearings, which had been captured separately in its March report.
“Recent incidents reflect a deeply concerning pattern in which citizens abducted by suspected state security agents are subsequently discovered in formal police custody, blurring the line between lawful arrest procedures and abductions,” the report concludes.
Zimbabwe’s government has not publicly responded to the ZPP findings.
