An MDC official from Murehwa reported how he evaded attackers who had come for him and who then beat his wife and burnt his brother’s house:

They came to my place, about 100 of them at 4:45 pm on Tuesday 9 May. They dropped off in a pick up, there were two vehicles with about 14 people in each. Then a lorry came with about 50 people. I was in my house. I was upstairs then I saw them and I knew they were coming for me. I told my wife that dangerous people are coming and we must disperse. Then there was only me and my wife at home. She was thinking about the children and looking for her young grandson, a small boy of five who was playing around. But he had run back to his mother nearby. They captured my wife and took her back to the house. They pointed a gun at her saying: "We need your husband’s T-shirts, books and everything." They went to the top of the stairs with two women of Zanu (PF) and they took my three T-shirts and caps. They went downstairs and they took a cardboard box which was all the papers for MDC. They took copies of the manifesto and went with it. They were asking my wife: "Where is your husband?" She said: "I don’t know where he is. They said: "We have seen him before we arrived. He was just here." My wife said: "I think he has run away when he saw you coming."

They took my wife outside the house and went with her to the bus station about 200 metres away at Musami mission. They told her to lie down. They took sjamboks and chairs and they beat her on the back. Then they left her there. So she went back to the house. I was just in the bush not so far away on the hill. After they had gone I too went home. My wife told me what had happened and that those people are coming, as they had promised to come back. She said: "You should not be here. You can’t even sleep here." She went to sleep at the home of our son and I went back to the hill to sleep in the bush. I went back home about 12 midnight to the house to sleep. These Zanu (PF) supporters didn’t come that night. They were burning the house next door belonging to my young brother. They lost everything. His wife was standing outside crying, asking: "Why are you burning?" He was not an MDC member. Only because he was my relative they thought that he might be. When I woke up my brother was reporting to the police about the house being burnt. I went there too. I told the police my story. They said okay, we received the report. I said I need a letter for my wife to go to the doctors. I asked the police what protection they could give me. They said: "If you surrender to these people it will be much better." They meant I should give up my MDC position. In my reply I said: "I don’t think that you support MDC. You support Zanu (PF). Do you think that a man doing his duty for his party can change to another party. If I do I would sell my party." They said we will try to help you as far as we can, but we can’t always come to your home. I replied that if you could give my wife a letter for me to go to the hospital, it would be good. Then I told my wife to go and get that letter.

After seeing the police, I ran away. That time I was preparing to go home, I saw them coming again so I ran. Then I came to Harare. The Wednesday they came to my house and broke in around sunset. They warned my wife that they are coming here at night. Then they came that night. They broke my door and my wife was alone. They went inside and took my sewing machine and a brand new knitting machine. My wife said to them: "I am not political". They told my wife you must stay at home. We want your husband by 17 or 18 of May and if we fail to get him you will have trouble. Now I don’t know what is happening. They have made a camp at Shavanuwe restaurant. Ncube is the leader of those at Musami growth point. I never saw him before. He is the commander there, an ex-combatant, Ndebele. The brother of the mission has been forced to use his car. Rushange and Mandike schools are closed.

A similar report came from an MDC official who advised of problems campaigning in his area from early April, followed by more trouble on 12 May:

The Zanu (PF) supporters came to my house and they were forcing me to surrender my MDC things, t-shirts and cards. They said: "This is the chairman of MDC so we want to cut his head off." There were about nine who came and they had sticks, but I told them: "Get away from my place" and I pretended that I had people who could come to get them. There was no one to help me but they believed me and they ran away. They were from Mutoko and they came there for the farms. They are kept on the farms I was told. There were informers who told them to come and get me.

The next day they came in the evening around 6.30 pm. They came into my bedroom. I had just bathed and was trying to put my trousers on. They pulled me out onto the veranda and beat me and then they tore off my clothes. Then they took me naked into the road and beat me. A crowd gathered and some were chanting Zanu (PF) slogans. These guys were ex-combatants from Marondera and some were from Mutoko and Murehwa. Garwe is the commander there. When they were beating me they said we were sent by a police officer from the peace department at Macheke, called Mazambani. They said he told them to come and collect me and take me to their place at Fault Farm, Marimatombo. They failed to collect me. I resisted and I pretended I had people who could come to rescue me and they left. They were armed with sticks and beer bottles, but they left. I managed to run to my cabin. They thought I was going to get a weapon. Before when they came to my place they had accused me of having a gun. When they searched they found nothing. I went to the police station in Macheke. I told them the problem. There was no response. I went home.

Then the next day, Sunday, they came in large numbers in three trucks. Some belonged to the white farmers another was Mr Jiti’s truck [The former MDC aspiring candidate for Murehwa South who has since renounced his party membership and joined Zanu (PF)] They had been gathering themselves to get me. During the day, more than 100 of them arrived, Zanu (PF) supporters and ex-combatants. They were armed with axes, sticks, catapults, machetes and bicycle chains. There was one group coming from the south, one from the north and one from the west. They tried to block the way to the police station. They said they had come to "get me and chop off my head". They shouted: "He’s there, get him". I was in the garden. My wife and children were at home; they are aged 10, 12, and 17. I ran and as I ran my second born followed. I was running to the police station. On the way I saw another group of guys coming from the front. They were wearing Zanu (PF) T-shirts. As I reached the Mutare road a bus was passing and I managed to get it to stop and I asked if I could have some assistance. I got on. Then their car dropped some people in front of the bus and they started to hit the bus. They were saying: "We want him, make him get down". The driver moved the bus bit by bit to the police station. Then I managed to get off and run inside. The police started to give me a hand. They told me to hide in the radio room and I went in there. The Zanu (PF) guys arrived and asked to search the bus thinking I was still there. The police said they could. They didn’t find me. They came in the police station, but they didn’t see me there. I was hiding in the radio room all along.

I asked the police what to do and they said they could not give me any help and that the Officer in Charge was supposed to deal with it. He was there but he was in his office and he couldn’t even open his door. He was too scared because the station was full of Zanu (PF) and ex-combatants, plus the commander from Fault farm and village 8. The police advised me not to stay in the area for some time, until the situation gets better.

The Zanu (PF) supporters left around 1.00-2.00 pm. My son and later my wife came to the police station. She was also running away from the Zanu (PF) members. They kept her in the police station on Sunday and Monday and she went home in the evening.

These attacks are continuing. On 12 June it was reported that the chairman of the MDC in Murehwa, was forced to flee from the area and go to Harare. He had been assaulted by Zanu (PF) youths using sticks and iron bars. He was knocked unconscious and the gang members then set fire to his house. He did not go to Musami Hospital, fearing the Zanu (PF) militants would pursue him and "finish him off." The violence against persons associated with political opposition parties has been most intense and most widespread in areas such as Murehewa and Mutoko.

Two United Party candidates have fled their homes and a third UP candidate’s wife was beaten and he is now sleeping in the bush. One of these aspiring candidates reported as follows:

Around 00.30 hours we had a knock at the door. We did not respond and a man broke the main door with an axe. They tried to open the door to the bedroom. I was sleeping in with one of my wives. They managed to break in but my wife had escaped through the window (other wife). She was apprehended by another group of men waiting outside. They then broke the door to the children’s bedroom and were demanding to know where I was. They stared beating the children whilst others were looting groundnuts. I then opened my door and they pulled me outside. My wife followed.

My youngest wife was beaten first, then the second wife. The first wife was not beaten. They asked me to lie down, which I did. They started beating me with sticks on my back, buttocks and the rest of my body. I, my wife and two boys next door were taken to a ‘base’, on the way they were collecting other villagers and beating them too. When we got to the base the leaders were no longer there and the gang decided to let us go. They had threatened to kill me because I am a candidate for the United Parties. My arm was broken and I went back home. One woman had been raped and others had been seriously injured. A police defender later came around 3pm and they took me to Hospital for treatment. I had an X-ray and I was told that my arm had been broken and was put in a plaster. I am fearing for my life since gang threatened to kill me if I report them to the police or hospital. I have not contacted my family and do not know what’ s happening to them. The party has been assisting a bit.

A female UP official from Mutoko gave the following report:

On Saturday 15 April at around 2:30 pm, the local UP party members had just left our homestead. We had been holding a party meeting. I was at home together with a friend and her two daughters. We saw a group of around 50 people wearing Zanu (PF) T-shirts coming. I ran into my bedroom with the children, while my friend ran into the kitchen. I phoned the police who told me to stay indoors. The Zanu (PF) supporters wanted to assault my friend, so I went out. They asked for Zanu (PF) cards, and I said that I did not have any. They asked which party we belonged to, and I admitted that I was a UP member. At this, two women started assaulting me with pick handles. My son arrived and tried to help, and he was also assaulted. They asked for UP cards, and pretended to go away. I went into the bedroom to call the police and my husband. While I was inside the bedroom, they came back again and started hitting the doors and windows. I opened the door and they came into the house. They were singing "Usatambe ne Zanu; Zanu chiwororo" ("Don’t play with Zanu, Zanu is deadly") They grabbed UP papers in the house. The leader pulled out a knife, and demanded all the UP papers. I gave them various things. They ransacked the house, stealing everything. The leader then said it was over, and asked me to come out of the house. I was told to follow them, and they pulled me and started beating me. At that point the police arrived, and the Zanu (PF) supporters ran away into the bushes.

One of the policemen advised me to go to the hospital and look after myself. They then drove away, leaving me there. Some villagers came to see what was happening. The group that had run into the bushes came out, and we ran away. We returned at about 5 pm. The police came around in the evening at about 1 am, to take me to the hospital, where I remained for a week.