Who is responsible?
A preliminary analysis of pre-election violence
in Zimbabwe
June 20, 2000

Incitement of violence
President Robert Mugabe has incited and condoned violence for political gain, warning that "death will befall" his opponents and that "MDC is courting danger". Other high-ranking Zanu (PF) officials have been similarly blatant in encouraging violence. These statements in themselves constitute offences under the Electoral Act and various other laws, as well as of democratic and human rights principles. They send a message to the perpetrators of violence that they are acting with the authority of the leadership of the country. Not only do the perpetrators believe their acts will be tolerated or even welcomed, but the police have often declared their reluctance to act because of "orders from above". 

Sources
This report contains information gathered from a variety of sources. Statements taken from victims of political violence are the main basis for this report and for the conclusions drawn by the Forum about the nature and extent of the violence. We have made medical assessments of the victims in many cases and have obtained copies of medical reports in others. We have given the victims a pseudonym or have removed their names in an effort to avoid them being easily identified. In some cases, the victims’ names are already in the public domain and can easily be verified, but we have nevertheless chosen not to name them ourselves. We are deeply concerned about the security of every individual who has reported to the Forum. Most of them have good reason to believe they are still "being sought" and several have reported further incidents subsequent to their initial statement.

We have also used reports from the individual human rights organisations which are members of the Forum and from other organisations, including the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. We have drawn upon reports from teachers and health workers’ organisations, the Churches, newspaper reports, the three political parties whose members have been worst hit in the violence, the United Party (UP), the Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (ZUD) and MDC, the farm workers union, GAPWUZ and the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU). Where possible we have tried to cross-check information that has come from secondary sources, bearing in mind that particularly regarding political parties there may be a possibility of exaggeration or distortion. TOP