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Cases of Political Violence (Cont'd)

MASHONALAND CENTRAL

Bindura

October 2002

• FK's home was allegedly burnt down by Revhie Chitate and Monica Mudongo. FK was the MDC candidate in the September Rural District and Council elections and was coming from Harare where he had been reporting on the elections in Bindura. His wife and children escaped without retrieving anything.

Guruve North

18 October 2002

• MC, an MDC supporter who operates a retail business, claims that members of the ZRP from Mushumbi Pools and members of the Support Unit Branch confiscated from him 200kg of sugar, 56 kgs maize, 40kg cow peas and $463.50 cash on false accusations of smuggling goods into Mozambique. He claimed that he had just arrived in a truck when Constable Keke and other police officers approached him. The victim operates from Chikata Business Centre, located about four hundred meters from the border into Mozambique. The police officers reportedly took the victim to the police station where Keke assaulted him with gun butts, booted feet and sjamboks all over the body. The assailants allegedly demanded a bribe from him but he refused to give them anything. The victim is expected to appear in court on 5 November 2002 despite having been innocent of illegal cross boarder smuggling.

Mount Darwin North/ South

3 October 2002

• AC, MDC candidate for Mt Darwin in the September 2002 Town Council elections, claims that he was assaulted and victimised by youths from the Border Gezi National Youth Training Service Centre. He claims that he cannot go back to his home area, as it has been declared a no go area to him and his family.

Shamva

1 October 2002

• CM, an MDC supporter, claims that he has been staying in safe houses since he fled his home in April 2002, having been accused by Zanu PF youths of supporting the ‘wrong party’. When he went back to his home at the beginning of May 2002, he was threatened with death by Luke Zinamwe, Victoria Chirwa, Timmie Marikopo and Precious Magora, Zanu PF supporters. He claims that Marikopo told him that he would die by the 2002 rainy season if he stayed in the area. The other three alleged that the victim insulted them and Zanu PF before a chief’s court and the victim was ordered to pay $15 000 by chief Mutumba. The victim fled the area in October as the threats from the perpetrators continued.

20 October 2002

• Junior policemen allegedly ordered Bernard Gandanhamo, a headman, out of his village for defecting from Zanu PF to MDC. Gandanhamo claimed that Mangirazi, a police sergeant, threatened him with death if he failed to surrender MDC literature, party cards and other material in his possession. ln a report with the Standard Newspaper, Gandanhamo stated that Mangirazi had threatened to burn down the headman’s homestead and slaughter his cattle if he defied the order to move out of the village. Mangirazi also allegedly barred the Headman from engaging in all farming activities. The incident occurred after the police sergeant spotted Gandanhamo in the company of MDC candidates at the nomination court for the Rural District Council elections held in September 2002.

MASHONALAND EAST

Marondera East

October 2002

• AM and CM, well known MDC members in Svosve area, claim that they have been denied access to food under the food for work scheme since the program began, on political grounds. On the day in question, the Zanu PF chairman in the area allegedly announced that all MDC people had to get out of the queue, or risk being beaten up.

1 October 2002

• TC claims that she was assaulted by Zanu PF supporters for refusing to take part in their rally during the September 2002 Rural District Council elections. The victim was then denied a chance to buy maize. She said that she once stayed with her uncle who is an MDC supporter and she now suspects this to be the cause for the discrimination.

30 October 2002

• AK and AM, MDC supporter and residents of Svosve Communal Lands, claim that they were denied access to food aid and they now fear facing starvation. AK reported that Svosve Communal Lands are experiencing a severe drought and as a result there has been a severe food shortage. The victim claimed that all MDC supporters are being denied access to food aid in the village, and that Zanu PF supporters have already advised them that they will not get food aid because they support the opposition party.

Murehwa North/ South

21 0ctober 2002

• TN is an MDC supporter. He claims that he was abducted at night from his home by Zanu PF militia. He suspects that he was abducted because he supports the opposition party. He claims that he was taken to a Zanu PF base where he spent a night and was forced to eat some sadza which, he suspects, was poisoned. He now complains of an ongoing stomach-ache. He claims he was assaulted with baton sticks over his whole body.

Murehwa North

1 October 2002

• MG is an MDC member. She claims that she was assaulted by Zanu PF members on allegations of supporting the "wrong party". She claims that her husband was also kidnapped on 30 August 2002 and his whereabouts are still not known. She alleged that the perpetrators also abducted her baby for about twenty to thirty minutes, and the baby has since developed medical complications.

Murehwa South

October 2002

• Raphinos Madzokere, a war veteran and MDC candidate for Murehwa South in the September 2002 rural district council elections, claims that he lost property worth millions of dollars after Zanu PF supporters descended on him soon after the elections. He also claims that the benefits he was supposed to enjoy as a war veteran were eliminated as soon as it became public knowledge that he was an MDC supporter. He now stays in a single room with his wife and five children as his property was destroyed. The MDC has reportedly attracted not only war veterans, but police officers, prison officers, army personnel and teachers, many of whom have been victimised or even dismissed from work by Zanu PF supporters and war veterans, once it became known that they supported the opposition MDC.

Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe

3 October 2002

• TG was an MDC polling agent in the September 2002 Rural District Council elections at Chikuwa Primary School. Seven war veterans and Zanu PF youths reportedly took him two other MDC polling agents, including Lawrence Muchato, to their base at Choutswa Business Center at around 8 pm. Their commander, Mushungwe, then ordered that the victims be fed with sadza at around 10 pm during which the victim believes that he was poisoned. The victims managed to run away at around 4 am. Although TG did not suffer any after effects, his friend vomited within four hours of taking the sadza.

MASHONALAND WEST

Kadoma East/ West

October 2002

• Suspected MDC supporters recently reportedly disrupted a rain making ceremony and severely assaulted elders in Muzvezve 2 Resettlement Scheme in Domani. The MDC youths reportedly claimed that the rain making ceremony was a political gathering called up by Zanu PF supporters. At least fifteen elders were reportedly injured and are still recovering at Kadoma General Hospital. The MDC youths allegedly spilled all the beer and destroyed all the clay pots at the ceremony before ordering all the people gathered at the meeting to disperse.

Kadoma West

10 October 2002

• Property worth thousands of dollars was reportedly destroyed by war veterans in a fire at Sanyati growth point, as part of an alleged Zanu PF terror campaign against suspected MDC supporters. The attacks came a week after Zanu PF candidates won almost all the contested wards in the violence torn Rural District Council elections held in September 2002 in Mashonaland West. Stephen Gwandibva and Collen Gotohori are alleged to have led the attack in which they burnt down market stalls and looted goods belonging to MDC supporters.

MASVINGO

Chiredzi North/ South

12 October 2002

• Heavily armed soldiers allegedly injured at least five patrons when they raided Chigarapasi beerhall, on accusations of supporting MDC leaving one Obvious Chisina, MDC Chairman for Ward 3, for dead. He reportedly sustained severe injuries all over his body from the assault. The incident apparently turned into a free for all as members of the public tried in vain to stop the marauding soldiers from assaulting more innocent civilians. When the soldiers sensed the danger of mob violence, they reportedly threatened to shoot everyone in the beer hall. The threats sent the patrons scurrying for cover while others took to their heels. Police in Chiredzi confirmed the attack and said that investigations were underway. Lieutenant Ncube of Chiredzi ZRP allegedly accused the victims of being sons of MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai.

Masvingo North

1 October 2002

• Lovemore Nyikavanhu, Vincent Chemhere, Pikirai Pikirai and Chenjerai Bhobho, MDC polling agents, claim that they were abducted from their polling stations and severely beaten up by suspected Zanu PF youths from Mushagashe training centre. This former skills training centre was this year turned into a training institution for Zanu PF youths undergoing the so-called "national service".

Mwenezi

27 October 2002

• Charles Muzenda, an MDC supporter, claimed that he was brutally assaulted by suspected Zanu PF youths at Neshuro Growth Point in Mwenezi as political violence continues in parts of Masvingo province. The youths were reportedly clad in the National Service uniforms and armed with stones and sticks when they raided Neshuro Business Centre, saying they were on a mission to kill all MDC activists in the area. Muzenda was initially admitted at Neshuro District Hospital following the assault, but was transferred to Masvingo for further treatment due to the serious nature of the injuries. Muzenda claimed that the youths ordered him to go with them to their base and ordered him to stop supporting the MDC. When he refused, they allegedly dragged him to their base but the police managed to rescue him before they got far. His eyes were reportedly swollen and he was referred to an eye specialist for further treatment. By the time this report was made, none of the Zanu PF Youths had been arrested as they had reportedly left the area for their base in Gwanda. Political violence continues in the Zaka and Mwenezi districts of Masvingo as suspected Zanu PF supporters embark on a fresh wave of violence to silence the opposition MDC in the two districts.

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