Activist shot at weekend is in stable condition

By Tichaona Sibanda
10 April 2007

On Saturday MDC activist Phillip Katsande became the latest victim of the country’s brutal security forces who shot and seriously wounded him at his Budiriro home in Harare.

Reports said state security agents went to Katsande’s Budiriro 1 house after midnight on Saturday and started smashing windows and doors. When they forced their way in, they failed to locate Katsande and assaulted his wife and children. After intense interrogation and beatings his family revealed he had sought refuge in the ceiling. At this point a police officer is said to have fired a single shot into the ceiling, which hit Katsande forcing him to fall to the ground.

Katsande is now expected to undergo emergency surgery on Thursday, after being moved to a private hospital from Parirenyatwa on Tuesday. Kerry Kay, the MDC deputy secretary for Health, said although he was now out of danger his condition remains critical. She said surgeons will operate to try and remove a bullet which is still lodged in his chest. Doctors had to wait until Thursday because they wanted his condition to stabilise from the effects of the trauma suffered when he was shot.

Kay confirmed that Katsande, a provincial executive member of the MDC in Harare, was still under police guard. Initially he was taken to Parirenyatwa hospital after the shooting. He was moved to a private hospital Tuesday. It’s believed he had been on a hit list of a police death squad that has been targeting fearless and influential activists of the MDC in the capital.

‘It’s going to be a straightforward operation and he should be fine afterwards. The procedure will be to remove a bullet which is lodged in his diaphragm. He lost a lot of blood after the shooting and doctors had to drain three litres of blood from his chest,’ Kay said.

A diaphragm is a shelf of muscle extending across the bottom of the ribcage. The bullet that entered Katsande’s body tore several muscles below the ribcage. Kay said Katsande is lucky to be alive because the bullet did not penetrate any of his vital organs. She said her party was so grateful to the medical staff at Parirenyatwa who first attended to Katsande. Working under trying times and facing severe shortages of drugs and equipment, staff at the state hospital managed to stabilise him and helped prevent further complications caused by excessive haemorrhaging.