Prominent Zimbabwean human rights advocate Dewa Mavhinga has died from Covid-19 in South Africa. He was the Southern Africa director for Human Rights Watch.
Dewa Mavhinga was the Director of Southern Africa in the Africa Department of Human Rights Watch. Dewa had more than ten years of research and advocacy experience in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Deva served as the Regional Crisis Coordinator of the Alliance of Zimbabwe in Johannesburg.
In 2012, Dewa co-founded the Zimbabwe Institute for Democracy, a public policy research think tank based in Harare. He was also a recipient of Chevening and Canon Collins Trust Scholarships in the United Kingdom. H was a holder of an Honours Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Zimbabwe and a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom.
After graduation, he joined Human Rights Watch and took the lead in exposing human rights violations in Zimbabwe, documenting these in the report, and urging the government of Zimbabwe and other international participants to ensure better protection and promotion of human rights in Zimbabwe. In the face of resistance from the leaders of the Zimbabwean government who are trying to describe human rights as imposing Western values on Africa, Dewa has always demonstrated how the sources of human rights values are localized. Human rights are reflected in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights. Deva advocates the values and principles embodied in these documents, which embodies the spirit of Africa in solving African problems.
Through a groundbreaking report entitled “Rough Diamonds”: Human Rights Abuse in the Malangi Diamond Mine in Zimbabwe, it exposes the terrible human rights violations in the diamond mine in Zimbabwe. Subsequent advocacy led to the Kimberley Process certification system temporarily banning Malangi diamonds, which led to extensive reforms and a significant reduction in abuse in the diamond sector.