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Annexes:
Case Studies
Section
A – Incidents involving Dr Hunzvi
- In the streets
of Chivhu, Zimbabwe, children wear caps emblazoned with the face of
Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, a parliamentary candidate, whose name their
parents whisper with fear. Hunzvi is leader of Zimbabwe's independence
war veterans’ association - the prime mover behind the violent occupation
of white farms- and President Robert Mugabe’s most feared henchman.
He is standing for parliament in the election next weekend. In his prospective
constituency of Chikomba, the opposition MDC has been driven underground
by a ruthless campaign of intimidation. Peter Kaunda, the MDC candidate,
has been forced to flee his home, move his family and sleep in safe
houses in Harare, 110 miles north. He said: "We have been unable to
campaign since these guys started being violent." Hunzvi secured the
nomination of the ruling ZANU (PF) party in characteristically devious
style by displacing a rival who had already won a primary election.
Days later, thugs began the campaign to guarantee victory for their
master by moving from house to house hunting down anyone suspected of
backing the MDC. A teacher who had been on the receiving end of violence
from Hunzvi thugs said "Hunzvi is a very bad man. He is the very man
who has caused all this violence in the first place."
(Source: Telegraph 17 June 2000.)
- "My most vivid
image of my time here is of the war veteran leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi,
leaning from the passenger window of a truck, wild-eyed and screaming.
He was trying to persuade the driver of my car to pull over. This was
in the middle of a by-election campaign which, even by Zimbabwe’s standards,
was remarkably violent. Opposition members of parliament said Mr Hunzvi
had personally thrown a petrol bomb at them as they attempted to campaign."
(Source: Grant Ferrett BBC report on 10 February 2001 in a report entitled
"Zimbabwe’s descent into violence".)
- "A frightful view
appears in the rear-view mirror. Two pick-up trucks loaded with threatening
ZANU (PF) militiamen are overtaking us. At 140 kph, along 6 km of winding
road, they try to ambush four journalists covering a political rally
in Bikita, in south-east Zimbabwe. Leading the pack of angry, fist-waving
men in paramilitary uniforms is Dr Torture himself, Chenjerai Hitler
Hunzvi- ZANU (PF) MP, war veteran leader and instigator of violence,
whose surgery in Budiriro township in Harare was used overtime as a
torture centre during the elections last year. His pick-up pulls up
alongside. Dressed in olive green fatigues, Hunzvi gesticulates wildly,
waves us down. A third pick-up appears ahead. We are trapped. With a
sharp U-turn and immense relief we squeeze past the car behind as it
changes lanes to block us. Later we learn that Hunzvi and his shock
troops have just assaulted the driver of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangarai
and five youths guarding his car during a rally.
We arrive at Nyika Growth Point, a forlorn place that has not seen any
growth in the past five years, except in the production of petrol bombs.
The militia is based at the rural district council office. As we walk
past it, a shrill voice very much like Hunzvi’s shrieks: ‘Go away! Cunt,
asshole, British rubbish, this is Zimbabwe!’ Only eight days ago in
the next village, Hunzvi and his men threw petrol bombs like confetti,
burned two cars and assaulted four opposition MPs with knobkerries.
Lucia Mativanenga, the opposition’s national chair for women, needed
four stitches on her head. We are not stopping for a roadside chat with
Hunzvi.
Bikita is in Masvingo province, a former ZANU (PF) stronghold now racked
by internal party dissidence. The by-election has turned Bikita into
a battleground. Feared war vet leaders Joseph Chinotimba, Francis Zimuto,
aka ‘Black Jesus’, and Hunzvi moved in. Their men set up bases at the
future polling stations of Bengura and Mutikizizi schools. They include
war veterans and the new youth brigades created by the sinister Border
Gezi, Minister of Gender, Youth and Employment. As governor of Mashonaland
Central province, he left a trail of blood during the parliamentary
elections last June. These ZANU (PF) militia have been beating up people,
forcing them to attend all-night rallies, stealing their property and
confiscating identity documents needed to vote. Mission hospitals have
treated dozens of wounded residents."
(Source: Mercedes Sayagues Mail and Guardian 5 January 2001 describing
an incident in Bikita.)
- In the mayoral
election in Masvingo in May 2001 Chenjerai Hunzvi, moved around the
town armed with an AK47 rifle, flanked by other armed war veterans.
Contacted for comment, Hunzvi said: "You are a dog. That is rubbish.
You are stupid. You people at The Daily News are dogs."
(Source: Daily News 11 May 2001.
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