A Harare court has ordered Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant General Anselm Namu Sanyatwe and Defense Minister Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri to pay US$29,000 in compensation to another protester who was brutally attacked and shot during the 2019 lockdown protests.
Hundreds of people were subjected to severe brutality during the January protests, when the army was deployed to crush anti-government protests that broke out across the country over rising fuel prices and deteriorating living standards.
According to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), some victims of the 2019 lockdown protests have begun accessing justice after a Harare judge on Monday ordered the Zimbabwe National Army Commander and Defense Minister to pay US$29,182 in damages to Felix Mavundukoto.
Mavundukoto was shot by a soldier in Chitungwiza during the 2019 protests, and initially asked the court for US$49,000 in damages.
“Mavundukoto, who was seriously injured as a result of the shooting and still had some bullet fragments in his body, was assisted by ZLHR’s Kusam Ncube in suing Sanyatwe and Hon. Muchinguri is demanding US$49,000 in compensation for the violation of his fundamental rights after He was shot by a soldier in January 2019 in Chitungwiza.”
The development follows another case in which a civil court ordered Muchinguri Kashiri and Lt. Gen. Sanyatwe to pay more than 41,000 zeg to a Harare man, Mushadimba Muponde, who was severely beaten by soldiers during the violent 2019 lockdown protests.
Initially, the Defense Minister and ZNA commander claimed that the soldiers who assaulted Muponde were under the control of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), not the ZNA.
They were deployed to support the police in restoring law and order.
ZLHR said Mafundukoto asked the court to compensate him for the pain and suffering he suffered.
The human rights organization said that Mavundukoto suffered “nervous shock, loss of income and medical expenses incurred while he was hospitalized for treatment.”
The NGO Forum for Human Rights in Zimbabwe described the January 2019 crackdown as one of the country’s “darkest post-independence events,” as the government used state apparatuses to instill fear in its citizens.
The Forum noted that during the period from January 14 to February 5, 2019, 1,803 human rights violations were documented, including 17 cases of extrajudicial killings and 17 cases of rape and sexual violence, in an attack higher in scale than the violations witnessed last year. August 1, 2018.
The forum also documented six cases of extrajudicial killings, and called on the government to hold the perpetrators accountable and compensate the victims or their families for the loss they suffered. Site
