Reports

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence: UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”

It is too easy to see both incivility and bullying as minor forms of abuse of women, but it is clear that incivility creates the sustained disrespect of women from birth to adulthood, it’s embedding in cultural imbalances of gender power, and the disproportionate power given to men.

Elections 2023 Webinar Series Policy Brief No. 5 Organised Violence and Torture and Elections in 2023: Can the Citizens be Insulated from this?

Zimbabwe has an unfortunate history of Organised Violence and Torture (OVT) during elections, especially since 2000, with the elections in 2000, 2002, and 2008 being the most violent. However, no election since 2000 has been free from OVT, intimidation, and threats to the voter. When it comes to elections, Zimbabwe is the most violent country in SADC.

Elections 2023 Webinar Series Policy Brief No. 4 Delimitation and the Voters’ Roll: Regional Best Practice and the Reality in Zimbabwe.

This Policy Dialogue series uses the framework of five Pillars to examine the key areas of the electoral playing field in Zimbabwe, contrasting these with regional and continental best practices. The five Pillars allow an audit of the electoral playing filed ahead of the forthcoming elections and have been outlined in previous policy briefs.

One of the key pillars is Inclusion. which is essentially giving effect to the requirement by the Constitution in Chapter 7. This was discussed at a recent Policy Dialogue, and this Policy Brief summarises the main points.

Elections 2023 Webinar Series Policy Brief No.3 Irreversibility in Elections: Comparing the Role of the Courts in Kenya and Zimbabwe.

This Policy Dialogue series uses the framework of five Pillars to examine the key areas of the electoral playing field in Zimbabwe, contrasting these with regional and continental best practices. The five Pillars allow an audit of the electoral playing filed ahead of the forthcoming elections, and have been outlined in previous policy briefs.

Elections 2023 Webinar Series Policy Brief No.2 An acceptable election in Zimbabwe: What Lessons from Kenya & the Gokwe-Kabuyuni By-Election?

This policy brief covers a comparison of the Kenyan elections and the Gokwe-Kabuyuni By-Election. The webinar from this policy brief is focused on assessing whether conditions in Zimbabwe, that lead to free and fair elections, are evident from the comparative analysis. As discussed in an earlier policy brief free and fair elections are measured against five pillars notably Information, Inclusion, Insulation, Integrity, and Irreversibility. It concludes that Kenya provides a good model for Zimbabwe, particularly because of the strength of the formal institutions. On the other hand, the Gokwe-Kabuyuni by-elections showed the pillars are very weak in Zimbabwe.

Organised Violence and Torture In Zimbabwe Since 2019.

This report examines Organised Violence and Torture OVT occurrence since the publication of the previous report. The report derived the data from several sources, predominantly the data in the Armed Conflict Local Event Database (ACLED) and the data from the reports of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).

Statement on the International Day of Democracy

Zimbabweans desire for democracy is matched by their rejection of authoritarian forms of government. Most (77%) reject the notion of one-party government, military rule (84%), and one-man rule (87%).

An internationally acceptable election in Zimbabwe: Is this possible in the current political context.

This Policy Brief premiers a Dialogue Series on Zimbabwe’s preparedness for the forthcoming harmonised elections in 2023. It sets the pace for a series of discussions on the factors that enable credible, free, and fair electoral processes and outcomes in Zimbabwe. Thus, it introduces the essence of the basics of free and fair elections, including information, inclusiveness, insulation, integrity, and irreversibility, as well as other outstanding problems, such as ZEC independence. This report also includes the perspectives of notable Zimbabwean practitioners who say that the electoral deficit requires immediate repair. The report finds that without intentional and immediate improvements, the electoral process would remain ceremonial, contentious, and antithetical to Zimbabwe’s democratic objectives. The report suggests widening and deepening conversations about elections so that policymakers and stakeholders are forced to change the environment for the benefit of democratic governance.