RECLAIMING LOST LIVELIHOODS: The Journey of a Zimbabwean Human Rights Defender
Walter Nyabadza is a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer in exile in the UK, following the reprisals he faced back home. He currently works at Peace Brigades International (PBI) UK, advocating for stronger policies for the protection of human rights defenders, as well as mobilising legal support for those at risk. Here, Walter tells his story…
Walter at Mandela House in Soweto during his stay in South Africa under the European Union Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders, 2019
For 43 years since independence from British rule, the story of Zimbabwe has been dominated by one party: ZANU PF, the liberation movement which won a war for freedom but then led the country into a ditch. Given I was born towards the end of the war of liberation in 1978, I had only known Robert Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe. Up until 1995, the 15th year of Mugabe’s rule, Zimbabwe had been the envy of Africa. It had the most educated and literate population on the continent, a sophisticated healthcare system, thriving tourism, and rich and fertile farmland that fed the region. It had been known as the “Bread Basket of Africa”.
However, by the turn of the millennium, the country’s economy had started to decline. The Liberation War veterans, who had won the country’s independence from white rule in 1980, had already seen the political elite living the high life and demanded their share. In 1997 Mugabe agreed to pay them cash handouts and, to do so, he started printing money. That set off hyperinflation, and Zimbabweans soon needed a brick of dollars to buy a beer; later, they would need a wheelbarrow. This was about the time I graduated from high school, before later enrolling for a bachelor of laws degree at the University of Pretoria in neighbouring South Africa.
There, at the University, I met a lot of young, intelligent and open-minded people engaged in the pursuit of knowledge. These intellectual enquiries introduced me to new ways of thinking and to past struggles of liberty, equality and fairness. These ideas had a huge appeal to my young and ambitious mind, and I began to identify with heroes of the past, such as Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Karl Marx and many more great figures. I began to see the inequalities and injustices of the system, both at the national and international levels and was outraged by what I learnt. This is about the time my activism started - I joined the students’ movement, calling ourselves the ”Voice of the Voiceless”.
I led from the front, beginning to grapple with matters of human rights, democracy, anti-corruption and academic freedom.
After graduating from law school and having practised in the turbulent Southern African country for more than 15 years, I was perhaps inevitably drawn into Zimbabwe’s violent civil and political conflict due to my work as a lawyer and human rights defender. I sought basic due process for my clients and legal protections for the communities I represented. Throughout the last decade, I frequently represented suspects detained for questioning - accused of politically motivated offences. My clients were arrested under draconian laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and were often denied access to an attorney. In a nutshell, Zimbabwe was now under a system comparable to the Mafia, with Robert Mugabe as the godfather. It was a large-scale criminal enterprise for the mutual benefit of members of the ZANU PF elite, which operated under the cover of constitutional government. In this regard, patronage and corruption were the mainstay of the system. Up until November 2017, Mugabe had led the system, only ceding to a successor administration led by Emmerson Mnangagwa after a military-supported veto-palace coup dubbed “Operation Restore Legacy”.
Following the 2017 coup, there was widespread hope for a new start, democratic and economic reforms, as well as a greater respect for human rights and expansion of civic space. However, this hope was short-lived due to the emergence of a contorted Executive-Military-Business compact through which the State remained captured by military elites and business cartels. Dissatisfied with these developments, I joined other dissenting voices to form the National Reclamation Assembly (NRA), a grassroots civil society organisation advocating for the restoration of Zimbabwean Livelihoods.
Walter (second from left) with other activists before his abduction by state security agents after marching to the President’s office in Harare, 2019
On the 22nd day of February 2019, whilst demonstrating against the deteriorating socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe, I was abducted by gun-wielding state security agents and held incommunicado for over 4 hours without charge. I was interrogated and threatened with physical violence and death.
The abduction took place in broad daylight at President Munhumutapa’s offices in Harare, but surprisingly - although the media and various Embassies had been informed of the time and date of the demonstration - no public statements were made denouncing the abduction.
After fleeing to South Africa in May that year, I was given temporary protection in Johannesburg under the Defend Defenders “Hub Cities” programme. I was later granted protection under the EU Human Rights Defenders mechanism, ProtectDefenders.eu, until 2021.
However, following the assassination of a colleague - the NRA Secretary General - in South Africa, I decided to relocate to the United Kingdom with my family.
It has not been easy for me and my family to integrate into British society as there is no specific government programme dedicated to support human rights defenders seeking refuge - there should be. Fortunately, with the support of the Scottish Human Rights Defenders Network, I have been introduced to the human rights community in Scotland and beyond, who have assisted me immensely.
Now, I continue my human rights work as Advocacy and Legal Officer at PBI UK, where we support threatened human rights defenders and advocate for the government to do more do support them.
My story demonstrates the risks faced by human rights defenders throughout the world. I hope it raises awareness about the human rights situation in our home countries. In addition, it also shows why it is so necessary that the UK Government strengthens its policies for human rights defenders and does more to help those of us who should be allies in the struggle for democracy and justice, but are facing often violent attempts to silence us.
