Political violence which has rocked the country for the past five months is continuing unabated, with war veterans harassing and terrorising people in the Goodhope area of Harare.

The war veterans are said to have run amok last Sunday with a new type of terror, targeting residents whom they accused of being supporters of the opposition party, the MDC. The war vets are said to have threatened to beat anyone shouting the MDC slogan, Chinja maitiro (change your ways), which has become popular in most urban areas. The Standard spoke to one of the victims, who declined to be named for fear of victimisation, who said she was talking to her neighbour when she casually uttered the slogan to her neighbour. "When I was about to get back into my house, three men, whom I thought were just passing by, suddenly called me, pretending as if they wanted to ask me something. Before I could even greet them, they started beating me saying that I did not know where this country came from and that they would not tolerate people who supported parties like the MDC which saw them (war veterans) as stupid," she said, revealing some of the injuries sustained in the attack.

Police in Marlborough confirmed that they had received reports of people being beaten in Goodhope area.

It is alleged that the war veterans are being sent into the suburbs to beat people, especially those who are suspected MDC supporters, just as the army was reported to be doing. Some residents from the area said they did not go to church or work last Sunday and Monday, as the roads were blocked by war veterans. Those who managed to negotiate their passage through, got to work very late. A schoolboy was reported to have missed school for a whole week as he was nursing facial injuries after he was attacked by suspected war veterans for wearing an MDC T-shirt.