The Civic Space: unpacking the constitutional provisions and realities in Zimbabwe

Transparency International defines civic space as “the freedom and means to speak, access information, associate, organise, 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 organisations are able to organise, participate and communicate without hindrance.” The 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 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 the amendment No.20, civic space had disappeared. The existence of draconian laws like 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

Source: Move Democracy

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 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 it existence despite 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 assembly 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 oblidged to facilitate the realization of this right but it seems otherwise. The Government has toiled on legislative reforms as POSA is still operational. Wittingly or not, the Zimbabwe Republic Police continues to use it 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 assemblies 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

Source:  Reuters / Venus Wu

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 of the minister of Information and publicity on internet outage and that of the minister of finance lease 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, their 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 organisations in Zimbabwe is that this space is shrinking and it is shrinking fast. Thus civil society and concerned individuals to spruce up efforts to stop the ultimate closure or disappearance of the civic space.

Written by:

Tinashe Chirape

Cell: +263719293194

Linkedin: Tinashe Chirape

Twitter: @tinashechirape

This article was first published on The Youth Inspirator and  on Defending Youth Agency (DeYA)