Transparency International
defines civic space as “the freedom and means to speak, access information,
associate, organize, and participate in public decision-making”. CIVICUS notes
that “Civic space is the bedrock of any open and democratic society. When civic
space is open, citizens and civil society organizations are able to organize,
participate and communicate without hindrance.” There is common understanding
that Civic space is based on three fundamental pillars namely (i) Freedom of
Association, (ii) Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and (iii) Freedom of Expression.
These freedoms are enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and stipulated as
RIGHTS. For this discussion, Civic Space is the human environment which enables
citizens to come together, share their interests & concerns and act
individually & collectively to influence & shape their future.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe was
enacted by the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20 Act, which was
gazetted as law on 22nd May of 2013. This was through a consultative
process across Zimbabwe, leading to the name, The Peoples Constitution. It is
fundamental to note that the constitution unveils that prior to the amendment
No.20, civic space had disappeared. The existence of draconian laws like the Public
Order and Security Act (POSA) and Access to Information and Protection to
Privacy Act (AIPPA) where major in shrinking the civic space. Chapter 4 takes
into account the three pillars of civic space through section 58 Freedom of
assembly and Association and section 59 Freedom to Demonstrate and petition.
Freedom of Association
Section 58 (1) of the
constitution indicates that, every person has the right to freedom of Association
and the right not to associate with others. The right to the freedom of
association is the right of any citizen to join or form a formal or informal
group to take collective action for a common goal. Freedom of association is
facing challenges as the state is fanning fake news through propaganda. It is
labeling assembly groups such as civil society, churches, pressure groups among
others as anti-government, change agents among other names. This false
information has affected many civil society organizations to recruit members, joined by local
supporters who fear joining as they are no longer sure of their purpose. Thus
the civic space is shrinking as government is hindering its existence despite the constitutional provisions.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
Section 58 (1) of the
constitution indicates that, every person has the right to freedom of Assembly
and the right not to assemble with others .The right to the freedom of peaceful
assembly is the right of citizens to gather publicly or privately and
collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests. This right
includes the right to participate in peaceful assemblies, meetings, protests,
strikes, sit-ins, demonstrations and other temporary gatherings for a specific
purpose. The government of Zimbabwe is obliged to facilitate the realization
of this right but it seems otherwise. The Government has tailored on legislative
reforms as POSA is still operational. Wittingly or not, the Zimbabwe Republic
Police continues to violate the right to peaceful assembly. ARUTZ
peaceful march saw Teachers being arrested illegally using laws that are ultra vires to the Supreme law of Zimbabwe. The government is still using its
security to thwart any assembly questioning or opposing the government
policies or decisions. The recent statements by the President at the Mwenezi
Thank You Rally, that he will hunt down all doctors and lawyers that assisted
state victims shows unprecedented levels of thwarting the civic space. The
indication that they will deploy the military again is the biggest threat to
civic space in Zimbabwe and it is unconstitutional.
Freedom Expression
The right to the freedom of
expression is enshrined in Section 61 (1), Freedom to seek, receive and
communicate ideas and other information. This includes the right to access
information, critically evaluate and speak out against the policies and actions
of state and non-state actors, and publicly draw attention to and carry out
advocacy actions to promote shared concerns, without fear of retribution from
any quarter. The State media in this respect becomes a tool the government has
historically abused to be partial, lack of fair opportunity for the
presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions. However, the
Zimbabwean State media is in violation of section 61(4). According to The Right
to access information section 62(1) every person has the right of access to any
information held by the state in so far as the information is required in the
interest of public accountability. The recent remarks by the Minister of
Information and Publicity on internet outage and that of the Minister of Finance leaves a lot to be desired. The remarks of the President in Ethiopia and
that of the Mwenezi Thank You Rally about deployment of soldiers elaborates the
kind of government Zimbabwe has with regards to civic space. Deliberate
accusation of those opposing government has been penned as conniving to ouster
a legally elected government. This poses fear among individuals and civil
society as the charge of treason will be brought to a judiciary system believed
to be unjust.
Although this discussion speaks
to pillars of Civic Space, they are immensely intrinsic. When one is sabotaged or
withdrawn from citizens or civil society the impact will reach the other two
pillars. The reality for individuals and
or civil society organizations in Zimbabwe is that this space is shrinking and
it is shrinking fast. Thus civil society and concerned individuals need to spruce up
efforts to stop the ultimate closure or disappearance of the civic space.
Article written by:
Tinashe Chirape
Cell: +263772293194 or +263719293194
Linkedin: Tinashe Chirape
Twitter: @tinashechirape
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