Politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe 2000-2001
A report on the campaign of political repression conducted by the Zimbabwean Government under the guise of carrying out land reform
August 2001

3. TARGETS OF VIOLENCE

MDC Members of Parliament and party officials live in fear of attack by "war veterans" and other ZANU (PF) supporters, including army, police and CIO personnel. In the lead up to the June 2000 General Election some MDC officials were killed and many were injured in attacks that were mounted by ZANU (PF) militias and often organised by ZANU (PF) parliamentary candidates and party officials. Many MDC party officials and members of their families had their property destroyed.

Since June 2000, violent harassment of MDC officials has continued and is intensifying. Several MDC Members of Parliament have been attacked in their homes. Reported incidents include:¹³

• February 2001: Job Sikhala, an MDC Member of Parliament in Harare, and his pregnant wife were severely assaulted by army personnel in their home in the early hours of the morning;
• May 2001: In Harare, ZANU (PF) militias attacked and injured Willias Madzimure, another MDC Member of Parliament; in the same month, whilst he was sitting in Parliament, ZANU (PF) militias attacked his house, assaulted his security guard, damaged his property and looted some items from his house; in July 2001 he reported that he was assaulted by three ZANU (PF) supporters in the presence of police officers in the charge office of the Warren Park police post in Harare.¹⁴

The President, the Vice-Presidents and some Government Ministers, ZANU (PF) Members of Parliament and Provincial Governors have made inflammatory statements inciting violence against the MDC. Some examples are:¹⁵

• March 2000: Robert Mugabe stated publicly that "those who try to cause disunity among our people must watch out because death will befall them";¹⁶
• June 2000: The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Mugabe in the USA allege that the late Moven Mahachi, former Minister of Defence, told a gathering that "we will move door to door, killing like we did to Chiminya. I am the Minister responsible for defence therefore I am capable of killing";¹⁷
• April 2001: Josaya Hungwe, the Masvingo Provincial Governor, addressing a gathering at the Masvingo Civic Centre and accompanied by the late Border Gezi, former Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, said: "If you do not vote for ZANU (PF) in the coming mayoral election, people are going to be killed. I want to tell you, someone is going to die."¹⁸
• July 2001: The Minister of Foreign Affairs told trainee teachers: "As civil servants, you have to be loyal to the Government of the day. You can even be killed for supporting the opposition and no one would guarantee your safety."¹⁹

No criminal charges have been brought against any of these officials for making these statements. In contrast, the Government has brought charges against the MDC President, Vice-President and various party officials for inciting violence.²⁰   TOP

¹³ See Section C of the Case Studies the end of this report for further examples of attacks upon MDC party officials.

¹⁴ Daily News 19 June 2001.

¹⁵ At the end of this report in Section J of the Case Studies there is a more complete listing of such statements.

¹⁶ Daily News 17 March 2001.

¹⁷ Newsweek 11 December 2001

¹⁸ Daily News 4 April 2001.

¹⁹ Daily News 18 July 2001.

²⁰ For a full details of how the law has been employed on a selective basis see Case Studies Section J.   TOP