Summary of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) report detailing trauma experienced by their members

WOZA counts the cost of their courage in a new report

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the
trauma experiences of their members on Wednesday 19 August 2008.
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
The research explored two broad categories of trauma: ●
“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.

Ends
19th August 2008

A copy of the full report is available on request by email or
can be downloaded from the website at www.wozazimbabwe.org
<http://www.wozazimbabwe.org>. The statistics on the
post-election violence and individual case histories of survivors
are also available. For more information please contact either
Jenni Williams on +263 912 300 456 or +263 912 898 110, Magodonga
Mahlangu on +263 912 363 668 or Annie Sibanda on +263 912 898
112.