Stories from our work
Stories from our work
Student activists need lawyers
2023
Every year dozens of student activists are unlawfully imprisoned in Zimbabwe. For many, access to legal representation is crucial for their release.
On the 26th of March 2021, the president of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, Takudzwa Ngadziore, was released on bail after spending 28 days in Harare Remand Prison. Just some months earlier, in October 2020, he spent 30 days in prison. In 2021, another student activist, Alan Moyo, spent 72 days in prison. More recently, in July 2023, Darlington Chigwena, a 21-year-old University of Zimbabwe student, languished in prison for over a month.
Their crime was participating in peaceful protests.
Free legal aid for students
They were all assisted by lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), an organization that work to protect and promote human rights through litigation, education and advocacy. ZLHR doesn’t only assist student activists, but also other human rights defenders, journalists, opposition members, and community activists.
In 2022, they offered legal services to more than a hundred students and academics. Most cases had a positive outcome where students were released without charge or acquitted after intervention from lawyers. Still, although released from prison, activists can go for years with charges hanging over them.
SAIH has offered support to ZLHR since 2018, enabling them to assist student activists, academics, and union leaders that are targeted for speaking against the government, for protesting, or for organizing others. Through ZLHR, student activists receive training on risk management and legal literacy, and, if arrested or facing charges, are provided with legal representation.
A worrying trend
The cases of Taku, Allan, and Darlington are not unusual but bears a striking resemblance to numerous cases witnessed in recent years in Zimbabwe.
The arrests, denial of bail, and prolonged pre-trial detention is increasingly being used as a tool of repression in Zimbabwe. The regime in Zimbabwe is using the justice system to target those perceived to be critical of government’s policies. Together with members of the opposition, human rights defenders, and journalists, students are particularly at risk.
The freedom of expression and the freedom to associate has been stifled rigidly with some institutions banning student unions totally. This has removed the only vent for students to air out their grievances.
SAIHs work in Zimbabwe
SAIH have been supporting the Zimbabwe National Students Union and their struggle for students’ rights and an accessible higher education sector since the turn of the millennia. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights became a partner in 2018. In addition, SAIH supports teacher unions, the education coalition, student groups, and organizations working to make campuses safer and more inclusive.
In an external evaluation of SAIH work in Zimbabwe, carried out in 2020, evaluators highlighted the important contribution of ZLHR. From interviews with other partner organizations working on contested issues, it became clear how much the protection from ZLHR means. Through ZLHR they have a safety net and someone who has their back should they face threats, arrests, or charges due to their work.
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