Zanu PF paying thugs to kill opposition officials

By Lance Guma
05 May 2008

In December 2000 Robert Mugabe opened a Zanu PF congress by urging his supporters to, ‘strike fear in the heart of the white man.’ Eight years down the line that policy is being employed to cover all opposition supporters and officials. The 84-year-old Zanu PF leader, smarting from an embarrassing March 29 election defeat, is allegedly paying ruling party thugs Z$10 billion for every murder of an MDC activist. The militants are also being paid Z$5 billion for every opposition home burnt down. According to The Zimbabwean newspaper a defector from the terror campaign has confirmed that ‘Operation Mavhotera Papi’ was mounted with the specific approval from Mugabe.

The paper says party youths are selected by local party branches and then sent for a 7 day training exercise at the army’s KG6 headquarters in Harare. During the training they are taught assassination skills and paramilitary activities. The recruits are taught how to stab their targets and reminded of the importance of throwing their knives into rivers or sewage drains to avoid being traced. On graduation the militants are then deployed to areas far from their homes, where they are unknown to the intended victims. The youths ‘are sent out at night in small squads to kill members of the Movement for Democratic Change or burn their houses,’ the paper reported.

On Sunday the MDC issued a statement saying it had received information of a plot to assassinate MDC officials using a group of 18 snipers. The party says, ‘the killers have set up a satellite base opposite (the police) Support Unit in Chikurubi, Harare.’ To aid their operations Zanu PF has provided the team with ‘10 new Toyota Hilux single cab vehicles which have number plates that range from ABD 1650 to 1659, among other equipment.’ The party fears MDC members of parliament and key workers at the party’s Harvest House headquarters are the main targets. At least 21 party activists and supporters have been killed countrywide in the wave of violence designed to intimidate the electorate ahead of a presidential run-off.

Meanwhile the violence in rural areas is increasing. Sources have told Newsreel that the Gokwe area has been turned into a war zone, with ruling party militants on the rampage and the area virtually shut down. Across most of the country opposition supporters are being beaten while their homes are torched. Many businesses have had to shut down to minimise their risks from the violence. The situation is so serious the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday said it was providing emergency assistance to more than 1500 displaced people. The agency says it is providing blankets, soap, buckets and tablets for purifying water.