Court clears Operation Hakudzokwi Commemoration

The Mutare Magistrate's Court has cleared the commemoration for Operation Hakudzokwi which is scheduled for the 1st of November in the diamond rich Marange communal lands. Operation Hakudzokwi (You shall not return) was a violent crack down launched by Zimbabwe's security forces to capture Marange diamond fields from artisanal miners and local villagers.

Hundreds of artisanal miners were gunned down whilst scores of women were gang raped and others forced to be raped as punishment by artisanal miners under threat of the security forces.

Although the effects of the crackdown were severe and far-reaching, the subject is still discussed with hushed tones, even by the victims. In 2014 Centre for Natural Resource Governance held the first ever commemoration of Operation Hakudzokwi in Mutare, attended by more than 200 people drawn from Marange community, civil society and international solidarity organisations.

In 2016 the commemoration will be even bigger, with more than 500 people expected to gather at Bambazonke Business Centre in Marange to evoke, remember and reflect over what happened in November 2008, in order for the victims and their families to reclaim the recognition they deserve and raise awareness to prevent future repetitions of similar brutalities.

The Officer in Charge at Bambazonke Police Station had barred Chiadzwa Community Development Trust and Centre for Natural Resource Governance from holding the commemoration in the community. In denying the two organisations permission to hold the event, Police demanded a Memorandum of Understanding between CCDT and CNRG with the Mutare Rural District Council.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights filed an urgent court application arguing that Section 26 of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) exempts applicant from complying with sections 25 of the Act as it is not a political grouping; hence, the notice itself was just out of courtesy, adding that the Officer in Charge was awarding him/herself powers that s/he does not have.

The ruling states the following that the oral prohibition order given on 14 October 2016 prohibiting Applicant's meeting at Bambazonke Business Centre be set aside, as its issuance is not compliant with Section 26 of POSA, that the 1st Respondent and its agents or anyone acting under Respondent's instruction are interdicted from disturbing or interfering in any way with the meeting to be held at Bambazonke Business Centre on 1 November 2016 to be convened by applicant and that the applicant goes ahead with the meeting as scheduled and promote its right to freedom of association and assembly as set out in section 58 of the Constitution and with the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed in section 61 of the same.

Centre for Natural Resources Governance indicated that operation Hakudzokwi commemoration becomes the biggest gathering of Zimbabweans to reflect on the cost of mining to poor communities.

"As corporate violence in the mining sector is on the rise, with several cases of beatings and extra-judicial killing of artisanal miners by mine security guards being reported, this event seeks to discuss real alternatives to mining and lay out approaches to sustainable development that leaves no one behind," the organisation said.

"The 2014 commemoration was the first ever public meeting for the survivors of Operation Hakudzokwi to speak publicly about what happened to them and demand justice. The 2016 commemoration, running under the theme Operation Hakudzokwi: Remembering those who lost Lives, limbs, Land and Livelihoods, aims highlighting the urgent need for transitional justice and to ensure that the events that happened in Marange shall never happen again. The constitution should protect the lives of all Zimbabweans regardless of their social status."