WOZA Leaders Released From Prison, Report Rampant Human Rights Abuses Behind Bars

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe - Two leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (“WOZA”), Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, were granted bail yesterday on a public disorder charge.  The two women had been held for six weeks for leading a sit-in.  The sit-in was a symbolic move, demanding the finalization of the long-discussed power-sharing deal.  The women also demonstrated so that the many hungry of Zimbabwe would be fed.

The news of their bail was greeted with great joy by the many supporters of the women, many of whom had fought for their release, alongside many other victims of human rights abuses throughout the country. 

However, despite the granting of bail, the women were not released for an extra day.  The prison authorities claimed that the administration was closed, and it was “too late” to grant their release last night, despite efforts of the support team.  In a statement, WOZA said that “the team will try and return to the prison first thing in the morning to collect them.”

Furthermore, the women have been put under strict bail conditions.  Speaking after her release, Ms. Williams told SW Radio Africa that her freedom of movement was severely curtailed.  Neither woman was able to visit her rural home, because of a court-imposed limit on the distance the women could move from Bulawayo.    The women also have to report twice a week to the nearest police station.  According to Ms. Williams, “So yes we may be out on bail but our freedoms, our liberties have not been fully restored, until the case has been dropped.”

Zimbabwe’s prisons are notorious for their conditions, unhygienic and overcrowded.  According to an official in the Movement for Democratic Change who had spent seventy-one days detained in a Zimbabwe prison, “I am not sure which one is worse - hell or Mugabe’s prisons.” 

Both women, upon their release, bring horror stories of the prison conditions and their treatment in the two prisons they were detained in during their confinement.   Last week, Mahlangu was moved, against prison regulations, into a yard inhabited by dangerous prisoners.   Yard Two, as it is called, also housed at least fifteen mental health patients.   Prisoners in Yard Two are stripped naked once a day.  According to a WOZA representative, Mahalunga “ was put in a cell with a patient that is allowed to wander around naked and was moved from Ingutsheni Mental Health Hospital for murder. She was unable to sleep at night due to the antics of this and other patients.”

While the women apparently are in fair health, they noted that extreme hunger pervades the prisons.  Prisoners have been known to fight over orange peels, and “scraps on dirty plates” just to feed themselves.

In response to the conditions, South African rights groups are expected to pressure President Robert Mugabe to investigate and allow the Red Cross immediate access to the prisons.

For more information, please see:

SW Radio Africa – WOZA Leaders Finally Released – 6 November 2008

Ekklesia –Women Activists Released in Zimbabwe as Human Rights Abuses Continue – 7 November 2008

RadioVop – WOZA Leaders Granted Bail – 6 November 2008

New York Times – Female Protest Leaders are Granted Bail – 6 November 2008