Violence against opposition party office bearers and supporters

I am now living in Budiriro 4 with other MDC supporters. We all moved there as a result of political violence. Last night seven of them came, armed with AK47s. They threw stones. Some of those who came were people who later tortured me. They threw two petrol bombs into the house and we managed to put out the fire.

Last Monday [8 May] I was taken to Hunzvi’s surgery. We were at the shopping centre trying to buy bread, myself and two others. I am well known. Someone must have pointed me out. There were about 20 of them. But they were also about 90 war veterans who came to the shops. It was about 7.30 in the morning. They caught me and one other.

They took us to the surgery and told us to remove our clothes. They started to beat us on the ribs with a wooden stick. They tortured us with car jumpers [jump leads]. They gave us electric jolts under the arms and on the genitals. They wanted to know our names and positions. They came with a book where names and positions were written. I told them a false name, but when I was checking the book I saw my real name. No 10 on the list with a star beside it. They told me the names with the star are the ones we want. Then they asked me where the others are and where they stay. They beat me under my feet using electrical wires. We were tortured in shifts of guys and including women and they were different people who came each time. I told them that I am not MDC but in the NCA so they started to ask me about Lovemore Madhuku and others. The commander there is an old man, an ex-combatant. A group of them came from Gutu and some from my home village there.

There were about 150 people there altogether. It is a big house with seven rooms. The women were fond of electrical jolts; they seemed like war veterans. They were not only war vets - some of them were young, some even less than 22. They spoke Shona, Ndebele, Venda. They just wanted me to go back from MDC. They want us to surrender T-shirts and cards and said that if you join us then we can give you money. They said some of the people there used to be MDC but have changed to Zanu (PF), but I didn’t see any I knew, they may be lying.