In a statement last week, Chief Secretary to the President
and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda said government was inviting nominees of people
eligible for the Herbert Chitepo award for justice and human rights.
“Government intends to award deserving citizens with the
Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo commemoration award for justice and human
rights. The individuals should be luminaries who are renowned through
‘distinguished and consistent pursuit of justice and human rights for the
greater good of humanity,” Sibanda’s statement read.
Policial analyst Prolific Mataruse said government was
desperately trying to change the country’s human rights narrative.
“It is clearly an attempt to create an alternate narrative
on human rights. The norm has been that human rights defenders receive
international acclaim, usually Western, and that is obviously problematic. The
idea of an alternative narrative is not bad in itself. The challenge could be
public perception about the sincerity of the initiative beyond being a counter
to the Western style human rights awards.
“For credibility purposes, the State could widen
stakeholders adjudicating the award, for example, through the use of public
nomination and selection processes,” Mataruse said.
Another analyst Methuseli Moyo said: “I believe even within
the controversy of our human rights debate at national level, there are indeed
human beings who have contributed immensely in the field so they deserve the
awards. However, we wait keenly to know who the recipients are. Hopefully, the
adjudication process will give us the most deserving candidates.”
Top human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said: “The problem
is that the government’s definition of human rights and justice is different
from the ordinary person’s understanding of these concepts. Those who have
never been to the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology are not likely to
qualify.”
Human rights lawyer Marufu Mandevere said: “It is quite
noble for the government to come up with such an award. However, I don’t think
government will be in a position to really recognise human rights defenders
because human rights defenders mainly appear to be fighting against the
government, its government duty to recognise and protect human rights.”
Mandevere said human rights advocates appear to be working
against the government.
“I am not sure whether government will be in a position to
recognise the human rights defenders who we know. It is going to be difficult
to recognise those human rights defenders who appear to be working against
government,” he added.
Another human rights lawyer Jeremiah Bamu said: “The
integrity of an award is, however, dependent on the processes of its conferment
and the legitimacy for the giver. An entity accused of being complicity to the
worst human rights violations taints the integrity of the award they seek to
confer. Although government has done well by recognising the contributions of
Herbert Chitepo, who has similarly been honoured by having a school named after
him (Herbert Chitepo Law School at the Great Zimbabwe University), the
government still has a long way to go to cleanse its human rights image in
order for the award it seeks to confer to have meaning and value.” Newsday
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