humanitarian.info

(Jestina in Geneva, 2008)

In Norton, just outside of Harare, in the early hours of yesterday morning, 15 armed men identifying themselves as police surrounded and broke into the house of Jestina Mukoko, the National Director of Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).

They abducted Jestina in her nighty, without her glasses, which she needs, and without some prescription medication. Her teenage son reported the abduction to human rights organisations in Harare a few hours later. As at 0830 this morning, when I texted with ZPP staff, Jestina’s location remains unknown. Lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are now going from police station to police station to try and find her, or a paper trail leading to her.

Across 2007 and parts of this year, I had the privilege of working for Jestina in Harare and remotely. Her abduction is truly disturbing, and I know that her son and family will be distraught. Jestina is a political scientist by trade, and before becoming ZPP’s National Director in 2007 had worked as a campaigner, journalist and television presenter in Zimbabwe. Check out this great interview with her from earlier this year, over at Action Aid Denmark. Because of her work, she has also become the “go to” for Zimbabwe statements for international media outlets like CNN , the Washington Post and Le Monde Diplomatique . Her ability to frame arguments, and use stats to support them, has made Jestina a highly effective advocate for human rights.

ZPP itself is a remarkable monitoring organisation, and for years has chronicled and brought to light the extent of politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe. Their monitoring work during this year’s hotly-contested Presidential and Parliamentary elections demonstrated enormous capacity: between January and June 2008, ZPP documented over 16,000 incidents, including cases of torture and murder. ZPP cross-comparised this information with the cases they had documented during previous elections, trying to illustrate the location of “hot spots” and used high profile public events and media coverage of this to deter violence in those areas. This project, called “Violations Early Warning System” (ViEWS) won ZPP the Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition ‘s Governance and Democracy Award. You can read many of ZPP’s reports over at Kubatana .

I know that the activists in Harare will pursue her release tirelessly, and her abductors relentlessly. Her lawyers have asked that as much attention as possible be drawn to her abduction in the first 24 hours. A lot of international NGOs have started up appeals (Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch , Frontline Defenders, NPWJ , Reporters sans Frontiers , Troicare ) which will give a lot of encouragement to those on the ground chasing leads, and provide further pressure our governments to find new ways to persaude the Zimbabwean authorities to act with decency.

I hope to see an Early Day Motion today in Parliament, which UK readers of this blog can write to their MP about. Today, we should also see the Human Rights Rapporteur at the European Parliament question the Commission and Council as to the actions they are taking to secure her release. I’ll update on this blog as we get information. In the meantime, I’ve set up a tag (rss ) on delicious to track stories related to her abduction, so please add them as you find them.

Update 1: 6 December 2008

Nothing substantive about the facts of the matter. Some indication that the the legal process is in motion, however ineptly. From Jestina’s lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, in ZimOnline on Friday 5 December 2008:

The file was given to a judge yesterday. I went to the High Court this morning and that judge to whom the case had been allocated had still not come in by 1000hrs so the file had to be re-allocated.

It was then taken to another judge who after going through the file said that he could not hear the matter. It was then taken to another judge at about 1100hrs who then requested time to read the file. We were then told to check with the judge president. So until about lunchtime nobody had any news as to what was happening.

Update 2: 9 December 2008

Zimbabwean Police Chief Superintendent T. Nzombe, has responded to the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) in letter denying that Jestina is held in police cell . Nzombe’s letter states:

Be advised that investigations into circumstances of the taking away of JESTINA MUKOKO from her home have been instituted under ZImbabwe Republic Police Norton, Report Received Book Number 0438167, Crime Register 54/12/08/ The matter is being treated as kidnap. … It must be noted that JESTINA MUKOKO is not in any of our police cells. We will keep you [National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations] informed of the progress and outcome of the investigations.

Yesterday, Monday 8 December 2008, two more ZPP staff members were abducted from ZPP’s offices in Harare. The names of the staff are Brodreck Takawira, who is ZPP’s Provincial Coordinator for Harare and area, and a driver called Pascal Gonzo:

…at least 5 unidentified men forcibly entered the ZPP premises in Mount Pleasant and forced the security guard who had attended to verifying the visitors at the gate to show them Roderick Takawira. After greeting Broderick Takawira one of the men forcibly held Takawira by the belt and asked him to accompany them as they wanted to discuss some issues.

Update 3: 10 December 2008 (Human Rights Day & 60th Aniversary of the UDHR):

A Harare court has ordered the Zimbabwe Police to search for Jestina, placing adverts in the available media. More from her lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa about yesterday’s statement by the police denying she was in their custody:

“This was after the police said it is not holding her … It was hard to believe given that they have not gone to her home to record how she was abducted.”

Former US President Jimmy Carter is taking Jestina’s case to the United Nations, according to some news reports.

The BBC covered the abductions on this morning’s Today programme. It’s available (UK only, I think) on the Iplayer at 39 minutes (ie. 6.39 am), here.

Update 4: 14 December 2008

Very few updates about the factual situation. We know from The Times (of London, whose coverage has been excellent so far) that Jestina’s 6 year old neice was at the house when she was abducted, and her gardener (read: household help, watchman, babysitter, friend, etc) was beaten at the time of abduction. Nothing new about Brodreck or Pascal. I know Brodreck: he’s smart and tough, and no stranger to arrests. I owe him a cold one, which I’m sure I’ll get chance to make good on.

Activism in ZImbabwe about her abduction has been sustained in the face of continued harrassment and official obstruction. Zimbabwe Lawyer for Human Rights marched through Harare in gowns in protest. Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), the hardest activism groups in Zim, have also continued to stage public demonstrations. Internationally, the Carter Centre also confirmed their activism on behalf of the abductees. Mary Robinson, formerly UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, also issued statements about Jestina:

The other woman on my mind is Jestina Mukoko. Jestina is director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a civil society organisation, working at the grassroots and community level on peace building. She is a contemporary human rights defender, trying to make Eleanor Roosevelt’s dream of human rights a reality in her nation.

Update 5: 24 December 2008

Jestina alive and in Police custody. More here.