(Johannesburg)
– Zimbabwean authorities
have
harassed,
abducted,
and
arbitrarily
detained
student
leaders
protesting
a
proposed
constitutional
amendment
to
extend
presidential
terms,
Human
Rights
Watch
said
today.
Constitutional
Amendment
No
3 would
extend
the
terms
of
office
for
the
president
and
members
of
parliament
from
five
to
seven
years,
effectively
postponing
the
2028
elections
until
2030.
Student
leaders
affiliated
with
the
Zimbabwe
National
Students
Union
(ZINASU) mobilized young
people
to
attend public
consultations on
the
proposed
amendment
held
across
Zimbabwe.
“Students
who
speak
out
to
safeguard
their
country’s
democracy
should
not
face
abduction,
arrest,
and
ill-treatment,”
said Idriss
Ali
Nassah,
senior
Africa
researcher
at
Human
Rights
Watch.
“The
authorities
in
Zimbabwe
should
reverse
course
and
allow
people
to
express
their
views
freely
without
facing
retaliation.”
Human
Rights
Watch
documented
seven
attacks
against
the
student
leaders.
Munashe
Dongonda,
25,
ZINASU’s
secretary
general,
and
Denford
Sithole,
22,
attended
a
public
consultation
in
Nketa
suburb
in
Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe’s
second
largest
city,
on
March
30.
After
Sithole
spoke
against
the
amendment,
men
in
civilian
clothes
accosted
him
and
Dongonda,
accusing
the
students
of
“wanting
to
cause
chaos.”
Dongonda
told
Human
Rights
Watch
that
the
men
dragged
him
and
two
other
students
outside,
beat
them,
and
then
forced
Sithole
into
their
vehicle,
a
white
Toyota
double-cabin,
and
drove
off.
Sithole
said
he
suspected
that
the
four
men
in
the
vehicle
were
members
of
the
feared Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO).
He
said
the
men
threatened
to
kill
him
and
drove
to
an
office
building
where
six
other
men,
also
in
civilian
clothes,
joined
in
interrogating
and
assaulting
him.
He
said
one
of
them
repeatedly
hit
him
on
the
head
with
an
empty
wine
bottle
while
others
beat
him.
They
accused
him
of
working
to
overthrow
the
government
and
demanded
to
know
who
was
funding
the
students
opposing
the
amendment.
They
forced
him
to
allow
them
to
inspect
his
bank
account
records
and
demanded
his
parents’
home
address.
After
about
six
hours,
they
took
him
to
Bulawayo
Central
Police
Station
and
told
the
police
to
“find
something
to
charge
him
with.”
Police
charged
Sithole
with
“disorderly
conduct.”
He
paid
a
US$30
fine
and
was
released
after
signing
an
“admission
of
guilt,”
which
Human
Rights
Watch
has
seen.
Sithole,
a
final-year
engineering
student,
is
recovering
from
injuries
from
his
abduction
and
torture.
He
has
suspended
his
studies,
left
Bulawayo,
and
is
in
hiding
after
noticing
he
was
under
constant
surveillance
from
suspected
state
security
agents
and
fearing
for
his
life.
Tafara
Magodora,
23,
a
student
leader
at
the
Bindura
University
of
Science
Education, was
abducted
on
March
30 in
Bindura,
in
Mashonaland
Central
province,
about
90
kilometers
northeast
of
Harare,
the
capital.
He
said
that
at
around
9
a.m.,
he
was
on
his
way
to
organize
transportation
for
students
to
attend
a
public
consultation
on
the
amendment
when
a
white
Toyota
vehicle
without
number
plates
appeared,
and
three
people
in
civilian
clothes
got
out
and
surrounded
him.
They
accused
him
of
being
on
“a
police
wanted
list
since
last
year.”
He
said
that
when
he
demanded
identification,
they
forced
him
into
the
car
and
beat
him.
After
about
an
hour
of
driving
around
with
him,
they
took
him
to
Bindura
Central
Police
Station,
where
officers
accused
him
of
“causing
chaos
at
the
university.”
The
police
held
him
for
two
days,
then
charged
him
with
assault
and
released
him
on
bail.
His
next court
appearance is
on
April
28.
When
he
was
released,
Magodora
said
two
suspected
state
security
agents
ordered
him
to
leave
Bindura
for
his
own
good,
warning
him
that
something
would
happen
if
he
did
not
stop
his
activism.
Magodora
is
also
in
hiding
and
has
not
attended
class
since.
On
April
14,
police arrested Emmanuel
Sitima,
former
president
of
ZINASU,
and
Takunda
Mhuka,
a
ZINASU
provincial
leader,
both
24.
Based
on
their
charge
sheet
seen
by
Human
Rights
Watch,
they
are
accused
of
“malicious
damage
to
property”
for
allegedly
breaking
a
window
in
the
home
of
the
chairperson
of
the
ruling
party,
the
Zimbabwe
African
National
Union-Patriotic
Front
(ZANU-PF),
and
for
distributing
fliers
reading
“Save
Zimbabwe
Campaign,
No
to
2030.” “No
to
2030” is
a
slogan
opponents
to
the
amendment
have
adopted.
The
value
of
the
damaged
property
was
set
at
$10.
A
court denied
bail to
Sitima
and
Mhuka
and
they
remain
in
custody,
with
their
next
court
appearance
scheduled
for
April
24.
Zimbabwe
Lawyers
for
Human
Rights
on
April
15
reported
that
student
leaders
were “under
siege” after
police raided ZINASU’s
offices
in
Harare.
ZINASU
National
Coordinator
Ashlegh
Pfunye,
28,
told
Human
Rights
Watch
that
he
viewed
the
raid
as
an
attack
on
the
broader
student
movement.
“All
we
are
doing
is
to
exercise
our
democratic
right
to
speak
out
against
the
proposed
constitutional
amendment,
but
we
are
being
hunted
down
like
criminals,”
he
said.
“Some
student
leaders
are
in
hiding
and
others
have
been
suspended
from
university
because
of
their
activism
opposing
the
amendment.”
David
Coltart,
the
mayor
of
Bulawayo
and
a
former
minister
of
education
in
the
2009-2013
Government
of
National
Unity,
told
Human
Rights
Watch
that
targeting
student
leaders
is
meant
to
have
a
“chilling
effect”
on
those
opposing
the
amendment.
“We
have
had
students
abducted
and
detained,”
he
said.
“We
have
had
to
find
safe
houses
for
three
student
leaders
who
were
being
threatened
after
speaking
out
against
the
amendment.”
Targeting
the
student
leaders
is
part
of
a broader
crackdown on
perceived
opponents
to
the
amendment.
In
August
2025,
police
arrested
three
Midlands
State
University
students,
who
are
facing
charges
of subverting
a
constitutional
government after
allegedly
distributing
12
fliers
opposing
the
amendment.
The
three
spent
fourteen
days
in
detention
before
being
granted
bail,
while
awaiting
trial.
In
November
2025,
two
students,
Marlvin
Madanda,
23,
and
Lindon
Zanga,
21,
were reportedly
abducted while
campaigning
on
campus
at
the
Chinhoyi
University
of
Technology
in
the
city
of
Chinhoyi,
in
central-northern
Zimbabwe.
They
were
found
the
next
day
after
being
allegedly
assaulted
and
tortured.
Police
arrested
them
and charged
them with
“disorderly
conduct.”
They
were
scheduled
to
appear
in
court
on
April
23,
2026.
Human
Rights
Watch
has
repeatedly expressed
concern at
the
slow
pace
of
human
rights
reform
in
Zimbabwe,
including
only
minimal
changes
to
repressive
laws,
a
lack
of
security
sector
reform,
and
repression
of
civic
and
political
activity.
The
actions
by
the
Zimbabwean
authorities
violate
a
range
of
fundamental
human
rights
protected
under
the International
Covenant
on
Civil
and
Political
Rights and
the African
Charter
on
Human
and
Peoples’
Rights,
to
which
Zimbabwe
is
a
party,
including
prohibitions
against
arbitrary
arrest
and
detention
and
inhuman
or
degrading
treatment.
“Zimbabwe
should
restore
integrity
to
the
constitutional
amendment
process
by
ending
this
crackdown
against
student
leaders
and
activists
and
holding
their
abusers
accountable,”
Nassah
said.
“A
constitution
should
not
be
amended
on
the
back
of
violence,
intimidation,
abductions,
and
unjust
arrests.”
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