Criminalising Zimbabwe’s human rights defenders isn’t necessarily a new strategy for the police, but it is one they’ve adopted in a particularly cunning manner in recent months.

Last Thursday night, ZBC viewers saw Zimbabwe’s Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri personally name Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko as “wanted,” accusing her of operating an illegal organization. According to someone who watched the broadcast, “If you didn’t know any better, after you watched the news, you’d think Jestina was a criminal.”

In a segment rich with the fabrications standard in state propaganda, the police described her as “on the run,” even though police had been in touch with her lawyers all week. Mukoko wasn’t in hiding, but she was the wrong person to answer the police’s questions, which were more suitably directed to the ZPP Board Chairperson, not its Director.

Particularly given her 2008 abduction, disappearance and 89-day detention, which she speaks about movingly in this Oslo Freedom Forum talk, Mukoko was not in a rush to enter police custody. Be that as it may, on Friday Mukoko presented herself to the police, and was charged with “a litany of baseless charges.” Much to the relief of her lawyers, colleagues and Zimbabwe’s human rights community more generally, Mukoko was not detained on Friday. Civil society has condemned the harassment of Mukoko and other human rights defenders. It would appear Mukoko is being targeted for the work of the Zimbabwe Peace Project in monitoring violence – particularly election related and political violence.

Thus, it’s all the more ironic that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has announced that it “won’t accredit NGOs under probe.” For example, ZEC turned down a request from ZimRights to observe the referendum. ZimRights staff including Leo Chamahwinya and Okay Machisa have been subject to police raids, prolonged detention and harassment since December last year. The charges against the ZimRights team are just as baseless as those against Mukoko and ZPP.

It’s a cunning strategy worthy of a George Orwell story – Send the police to investigate the organisations which monitor and report on violence and elections, and then tell these organisations that they can’t be accredited to observe elections, because they’re “under investigation.”

Check out these clickable maps of Referendum polling stations to help you know where to vote in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Referendum 16 March.

• View Harare map full sized
  
• View Bulawayo map full sized

Just click on any shaded area to view a pop up window of polling stations near there. We’ve only got data for Bulawayo and Harare Provinces (including Chitungwiza and Epworth) for now – But we’re working on more!

Note this map is based on the list of provisional polling stations published by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on 8 March.

Note also that you can actually vote at ANY polling station for the referendum. If you’re a Zimbabwean citizen 18 years or older, just bring your ID, waiting pass or passport to any polling station and you can vote.

Constitutional Referendum Polling Stations (a provisional list) were published in the press yesterday by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. ZEC advises that the final list will be published no later than 48 hours before the date of poll (16 March).

We’re in the process of making these available in electronic format – The Bulawayo and Harare Province (including Chitungwiza and Epworth) lists are on our site, and you can get them here. We’ll continue to add more provinces as we go.

Whilst this is still a “provisional” list, it is worth noting that these polling stations are very similar to those used in the 2008 General Election and Presidential Run-Off Election, so if there’s a polling station you know you’ve used in the past, chances are you can use it again.

It’s also worth noting that, whilst this information is presented by ZEC in Province, District, Constituency and Ward order, any Zimbabwean citizen over 18 can vote in the Referendum, at any polling station, regardless of whether you’re registered to vote, and regardless of where you live. You just need to bring your ID, waiting pass or passport.

So, take a look at the polling station lists, and do a search for your constituency, suburb or a school near you, and find out where you can vote next Saturday. Maybe make a note of a few polling stations near you, so that if the queue is quite long at one, you can just go to another.

And, if you haven’t decided how you’re going to vote yet, check out some of these resources to help you understand the Draft Constitution.

(Update 11 March – The provisional lists for Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East are also now up as well here)

With just over a week left before the Referendum, understanding Zimbabwe’s Draft Constitution in time may sound like a daunting task. Besides, the full Constitution is 177 pages of leagalese, so you might not be in a huge rush to read the whole thing. But thanks to COPAC and the hard work of many civil society organisations, there are a number of documents out there to help you understand the key points about the Constitution, so that you may make an informed decision.

Here are a few suggestions on recommended Constitution reading:

• COPAC Summarised Constitution – Available in 11 languages
• Legal Resources Foundation Understanding the Constitution leaflet series
• Idasa Constitutional Scorecard
• Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) discussion on Proportional representation: Exploring the unknown unknown
• Of camels, constitutions, and elections – Commentary from RAU
• Review of the COPAC draft Constitution & assessing Independent Commissions by Idasa
• A gender audit of COPAC draft Constitution from Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)
• Why Alex Magaisa is voting yes
• Why the NCA is voting no

Of course if you just can’t help yourself, you can read the full Draft Constitution:

• Download it as a PDF or Word document here
• Access it on biNu
• Get the Zimbabwe Draft Constitution App for Android [+ more coming soon]

And if you’re still curious, check out Kubatana’s special index page on the Constitution making process, which is chock-full of analysis, commentary and discussion on the Draft Constitution and the long process of getting to it.

Voting in the Referendum 16 March is easy for any Zimbabwean citizen over 18 years old – You just need to bring your ID / Passport / ID Waiting Pass. Find out more here.

Vertias releases Zimbabwe Draft Constitution App – Check out their announcement:

Veritas has made available an App for Android smart phones and tablets so you can download the COPAC draft constitution that is being put to the Referendum.

Read it, and share it
- wherever you are
- at your convenience

There is an index of Chapters, Parts and Sections and Schedules – just click on what you want to read or study

Use it as a handy reference at discussions and meetings

Express your views about the Draft on the App Forum!

The App will carry a link to a Forum on which you can compare and discuss your views on the Constitution with other users.

How to Download the App

If you have one of the following:
- An Android mobile phone running Android version 2.2 (Froyo) and later
- An Android tablet running Android version 2.2 (Froyo) and later

The App called Zimbabwe Constitution [Draft] is available from the Google Play Store.  For more information and download links go to www.veritaszim.net

Note: An App available for later models of Nokia and Blackberry smart phones and Blackberry tablets will be announced soon.

We regret that because of the rush between the finish of the constitution-making process and proclamation of the Referendum the App is in English only and also that we could not adapt it for use on Apple iphones.

Mayor jailed for US$460 theft, reads today’s Herald headline. The Mayor of Bindura has been jailed for six months for stealing $460 from Bindura. That’s right. One more time. 6 months in jail. For stealing Four Hundred Sixty Dollars.

If you read on, it sounds like actually she’s returned $250 , and her sentence was shortened on the condition she returns the outstanding $210 – so, in exchange for no money at all in her own pocket in the long run, she’ll be serving six months in jail.

It’s worth noting that the Bindura mayor, Ivory Matanhire, got into office on an MDC-T ticket.

On the one hand, it’s great if Zimbabwe’s courts are finally taking corruption seriously. Certainly, jailing a mayor over a bit of misappropriated travel funds sends a message that your position doesn’t protect you from prosecution. Unfortunately, it’s really hard not to feel like it’s just a bit of political posturing.

Just last week, Khadija Sharife, writing for 100 Reporters, exposed worrying allegations on the theft of billions of dollars from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields. A research paper released by Transparency International – Zimbabwe in January shared concerns about theft from Zimbabwe’s gold, diamond and platinum mines.  A 2012 report by the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa reviews a list of outstanding corruption cases which have not been prosecuted or taken seriously.

Every day, members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police engage in roadblocks which Zimbabweans have taken to calling ATMs – They’re more about the ZRP getting money for their pockets then they are about policing our streets or ensuring road safety.

Unfortunately, in a context like this, the message from the Bindura Magistrate who sentenced Mayor Matanhire isn’t so much “don’t steal public funds or you’ll go to jail.” It’s more like “unless you know the right people, don’t steal public funds or you’ll go to jail.”