President Robert Mugabe’s government is heightening repression against Zimbabwe’s opposition and critics of the veteran leader’s long rule, and is seemingly daring the international community that has in recent weeks kept a keen eye on the country, analysts say.
Last week, the government published proposed legislation that would give it the authority to monitor phones and mail — both conventional and electronic — which it says is meant to protect national security and fight crime.
But Mugabe’s opponents, who brand the 82-year-old president a classic dictator, say the Bill is part of a government crackdown that has included tough policing and political intimidation, to muzzle criticism over an imploding economy that they blame on Mugabe’s policies.
Analysts say the government tactics are meant to entrench Mugabe’s rule in the face of a growing swell of opposition to the government’s controversial policies.
”This is a well-calculated move to crush any dissenting views. It is a challenge to all the democratic forces fighting for democracy in the country,” says Lovemore Madhuku, who was controversially re-elected to chair the National Constitutional Assembly civic alliance for a third term.
”Mugabe does not care what the international community will say; he has a track record of not tolerating opposing views, and we will see the government continuing to fiddle with the law to suit its needs,” Madhuku says.
The analysts say the government has become apprehensive in the face of opposition threats to launch mass protests against Mugabe.
Mugabe is accused by critics of running down a once-prosperous nation by pursuing populist but destructive policies such as the seizing of white-owned farms to resettle blacks and, recently, the demand by government that 51% of foreign-owned mines be in the hands of the state and locals.
Two weeks ago, security forces forcefully dispersed civic society groups and opposition members around the country who were commemorating the first anniversary of the government’s controversial razing of urban slums, which a United Nations report says left more than 700 000 people homeless.
Most of the families are still without shelter and are forced to huddle under the cold winter nights, a year after they were promised new houses by the government.
Police have also moved against universities and colleges, by arresting students in a bid to thwart protests over high fees. Zimbabwean students have in the past held violent anti-government protests and rallied behind the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
”Obviously there will be concern among many people by this piece of legislation which will be interpreted as an attempt to snoop into the private lives of those opposed to the government,” says Eldred Masunungure, chairperson of the political science department at the University of Zimbabwe.
”But this should not be seen in isolation; it is a broad-based move to keep opponents in check. One can actually call it intimidation at best,” he added.
Analysts say the Bill is certain to pass through as Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party commands a huge majority in both Parliament and the Senate.
If passed by Parliament, it would give the transport minister unfettered authority to monitor the phones and mail of anyone suspected of threatening national security or involvement in criminal activities.
According to the Bill, the government is to set up a ”communication centre to monitor and intercept certain communications in the course of their transmission through a telecommunication, postal or any other related service system”.
Mugabe has repeatedly threatened to crush ruthlessly the opposition protests meant to topple him from power, and in the past security agencies have used brutal force to disperse gatherings.
The veteran leader has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and denies charges of repression and mismanagement. He instead accuses local and Western opponents of demonising him and sabotaging the economy over his land-seizure drive. — ZimOnline