By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG
The human rights situation in Zimbabwe is continuing to worsen despite the country's adoption of a new constitution last year that enshrines several basic rights.
"The freedom to demonstrate, strike and march is not there," Cousin Zilala, executive director of Amnesty International's Zimbabwe chapter, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview during a visit to Johannesburg.
"Freedom of expression is still not as free," he added.
Zilala noted, for example, that, while the constitution outlaws arbitrary evictions, the government had not halted the practice.
"As we speak at the moment, people's houses are being demolished in Harare; they are not given alternatives or places to go to," he said.
According to Zilala, officials did not consult with affected homeowners before bulldozing their property, nor were the latter offered compensation.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party has long been accused of committing widespread rights violations against rights advocates, opposition figures, journalists and others.
Mugabe, 90, has ruled Zimbabwe since the country obtained independence in 1980.
-Threat-
Zilala asserted that the space for human rights advocacy was contracting because the Zimbabwean government still viewed such activity as a threat.
"It needs courage for one to be a human rights defender in Zimbabwe," he told AA.
The Amnesty official said that whenever human rights activists wanted to hold a meeting, they were required to first obtain police permission – even though the new constitution stated otherwise.
Law enforcement agencies and overenthusiastic politicians, he added, still wanted to keep Zimbabweans subject to intimidation and fear.
"In some of our meetings, there is a presence of intelligence and police officers, which makes some of the human rights participants not feel free," noted Zilala.
He lamented that the government did not view the work of human rights organizations as "complimentary to the work of government."
"We also have a situation where a government minister would label you as 'people who just talk nonsense about rights'," he said. "They consider rights as nonsense."
The activist, however, also noted the presence of some progressive ministers within the current government, with whom rights activists had met.
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