Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the trauma experiences of their members today. The event was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa with attendance by press, diplomats, civic society leaders and members of WOZA. The report is entitled “Counting the Cost of Courage: Trauma Experiences of Women Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe”.

In 2007 research was carried out to determine the nature and extent of violations perpetrated on WOZA members by state actors.  It used a questionnaire administered verbally to more than 2,000 WOZA members.  The major results were detailed in a report released in March 2008 entitled ‘The Effects of Fighting Repression with Love’.  They showed a high level of arrests, assaults, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, primarily by members of various sections of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

One section of the questionnaire sought to document traumatic experiences of WOZA women in order to understand the basis of possible psychological and emotional disorders arising from their civic activism – ‘counting the cost of their courage’. The report launched today outlines these findings.
The research explored two broad categories of trauma:

The research

• “displacement” experiences – a concept first developed first in relation to the psychological and emotional plight of refugees fleeing war zones.  It details events such as loss of home, failing to access food and medical care, being lost, being caught up in fighting and similar experiences.
• The second source of trauma is “organized violence and torture” (OVT), including events of torture per se as well as assaults, cruel inhuman and degrading treatment, and verbal threats, insults and taunts.

The data relating to trauma was based on the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [HTQ]. It was altered slightly from previous uses in Zimbabwe in order to include an historical element, so that there might be a long-range understanding of the women’s experience of trauma throughout their adult lives. Interviewees were asked to indicate trauma events in two forms: those they have experienced themselves, and those they witnessed being experienced by others. They were asked to record these events for three periods: pre-Independence, 1980-1999, and for each year since 1999.

Conclusions
The findings of the report indicate that Zimbabwe is a “complex emergency”:  significant violence, severe economic decline, and the destruction of social capital, which means resembles a war. As is the case in most complex emergencies, women and their families are generally the most common victims, and Zimbabwe is no exception.  Many women of all ages have been brutalized, raped, tortured, and even killed for their political activities and of those of their male family members.  As children are normally in the presence of their mothers, they been equally victimised.  Most often such victims demonstrate psychological effects of their experience and witnessing of traumatic events.

Additional findings indicate that:

• Zimbabweans have a history of mass trauma dating back to colonial experiences. The members of WOZA have experienced trauma over all the past three decades, as well as before Independence in 1980.
• The frequency of trauma of all kinds has been steadily increasing. An average of 2.9 events per respondent for the pre-Independence period doubled to 5.8 in the two post-Independence decades, and then tripled to 16.7 in the period 2000 to 2007.
• There are generally more displacement experiences than OVT however – indicative of the worsening socio-economic situation.
• It was found that 1,051 [53%] women in the sample had scores indicative of psychological disorder.
• Trauma research suggests that repeated exposure to trauma has a cumulative effect, making the victim more likely to suffer from a psychological disorder. Zimbabwean women, with their history of repeated trauma through recent history are then candidates for clinical psychological symptoms resulting from repeated trauma of various types.
• WOZA women have received very little counselling to help them deal with their trauma.  Some group healing sessions with professional counsellors were organized, but remarkably, the women seemed more concerned to discuss their ‘displacement’ issues than their experiences of OVT, which they said they expected in any case and they had recovered from.  Of course, this does not mean that they do not have any trauma-related disorders, but they themselves do not perceive them, and their observed behaviour does not indicate them either. It is possible that the psychological effects of their trauma may well be lessened due to their understanding of the reason for their suffering and their preparedness to make a sacrifice for the future of their families and their nation.

WOZA Recommendations
What is clear is that the Zanu PF government seems to be oblivious to the destructive impact of widespread use of violence as a political tool of control and repression.  Although it has appeared to have achieved its immediate goal of stifling dissent for some years, it has surely had seriously adverse long-term effects on both the victims and the perpetrators.

It is also clear that any government has a responsibility to care for the welfare of its people. At what point will a Zimbabwean government confront the legacy of trauma and look to begin a healing process? This must be an important consideration in determining what form of authority emerges from the current SADC mediation process.

In order to deal with the problem of the prevalence of OVT as a common feature of our society, we recommend the following:

• Stop the political violence; disband militia camps in all areas of the country. Any political violence must be reported, investigated and prosecuted through the courts without any form of favour or political influence.

• Intensive research should be undertaken into the effects of OVT on Zimbabweans, both as victims and as perpetrators.
• A centre be established within Zimbabwe to carry out research, training and treatment related to victims and perpetrators of violence.
• A needs assessment be conducted regarding what treatment is needed to heal both victims and perpetrators.
• Research should be conducted and disseminated on the most effective ways for non-violent protestors to prepare themselves to lessen the traumatic effects of torture and other forms of violence.
• All government law enforcement agents be trained specifically on their international responsibilities regarding OVT and be required to make specific commitments not to follow orders which require them to contravene this commitment; an international rescue programme could be established to assist any who lose employment as a result of adhering to this commitment.
• All members of the government, defence forces and party institutions who are identified as perpetrators be required to appear before a forum where they admit their crimes; the more senior officers identified as giving orders should be prosecuted.
• Joint sessions of victims and perpetrators should be held to aid the healing process on both sides.
• Government should immediately lift the current ban on organisations providing humanitarian assistance and also allow a United Nations team to address the humanitarian crisis and widespread hunger without political interference.
• A transitional authority should form a body to consult and develop a transitional justice plan of action designed to bring healing and reconciliation and then deal with justice and restitution for victims in the new Zimbabwe.

The type of evil that has become an integral part of government behaviour in Zimbabwe must be eradicated and the mindset of power hunger and disrespect for other human beings overcome. It can only happen through the actions of a government with a strong will to correct wrongs and ensure that the rights of all Zimbabweans be respected. We therefore believe that the most appropriate government to replace the current illegitimate incumbent would be a non-political transitional authority whose members have as a priority transitional process of healing, transforming and rebuilding. Such an authority will have the capacity and neutrality necessary to dismantle the structures of violence and oppression.

Nonetheless, whatever format the new political dispensation in Zimbabwe takes, it will need to embark on an official programme of acknowledgement of injustices. Economic recovery and democratic reform, whilst imperative, can only go so far in restoring the dignity of people. We believe that for dignity to be fully restored a new administration needs to assist individual survivors to rebuild their broken lives whilst ensuring that ‘liveable peace’ is achieved. It is the only way Zimbabweans can bury the ghosts of their past and move forward into a more secure future.

As well as outlining the findings on the research done on WOZA members, the launch also outlined some statistics of post-election violence since the 29 March harmonised elections, giving a brief overview of the horror that many Zimbabweans have been faced with in the last few months. These statistics added further poignancy to the call for a lasting peaceful solution in Zimbabwe and the urgent need for a national programme of healing.

To read a full copy of the report, click here Counting the Cost of Courage: Trauma Experiences of Women Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe

To read statistics and case histories of post-election violence since March 2008, click here post-election-violence-in-zimbabwe-2008.doc