Hundreds of people were severely brutalised during the
January shutdown protests when the military was deployed to crush
anti-government protests that occurred countrywide spurred by an increase in
fuel prices and worsening standards of living.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR),
some victims of the 2019 shutdown protests have begun accessing justice after a
Harare Magistrate on Monday ordered the ZNA commander and the defence minister
to pay US$29 182 as damages to Felix Mafondokoto.
Mafondokoto was shot by a soldier in Chitungwiza during the
2019 protests and had initially asked the court for US$49 000 in damages.
“Mafondokoto, who suffered severe injuries from the
shooting and still has some bullet fragments lodged in his body, was assisted
by Kossam Ncube of ZLHR to sue Sanyatwe and Hon. Muchinguri for US$49 000 in
damages for the violation of his fundamental rights after he was shot by a
soldier in January 2019 in Chitungwiza,” said the ZLHR in a statement.
This development follows another case where a civil court
has ordered Muchinguri-Kashiri, and the Lt. General Sanyatwe, to pay more than
ZiG 41 000 to a Harare man, Muchademba Muponde, who soldiers severely beat
during the 2019 violent shutdown protests.
Initially, the defence minister and the ZNA commander had
claimed the soldiers who assaulted Muponde were under the control of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), not the ZNA
as they had been deployed to support the police in restoring law and
order.
ZLHR said Mafondokoto asked the court to compensate him for
the pain and suffering he endured.
Mafondokoto suffered “nervous shock, loss of earnings and
medical expenses, which he incurred as he was hospitalised for treatment,” said
the human rights organisation.
The January 2019 crackdown was described by the Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum as one of the “darkest episodes in post-independent” in
the country as the government used the state machinery to instil fear in its
own citizens.
The Forum noted that during the period January 14 to
February 5, 2019, they documented 1 803 human rights violations, including 17
extra- judicial killings and 17 cases of rape and sexual violence in an
onslaught that was of higher scale from the violations witnessed on August 1,
2018.
The Forum also documented six extra-judicial killings and
called on the government to hold the perpetrators to account and compensate
victims or their families for the loss suffered. CITE
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