ZANU PF terror campaign in Mudzi & Muzarabani

By Lance Guma
13 May 2010

Last Thursday Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the country no longer posed a risk to investors and that the political crisis that destroyed the economy "no longer exists". Villagers in Mudzi and Muzarabani will have a different view, after events there last week.

In Mudzi an alert issued by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, says ZANU PF supporters are harassing and intimidating villagers, ahead of a constitutional outreach exercise meant to gather people’s views.

The coalition held a public meeting in the area on the 7th May at the Kotwa Business Centre. It was there that villagers reported that ZANU PF thugs in the area are moving around and ordering villagers not to attend any meetings unless they have been sanctioned by Tafirenyika Nyune, the ZANU PF chairperson for Mudzi. Villagers said they have also been told that during the official outreach programme, led by the Parliamentary Committee, only community leaders and representatives chosen by ZANU PF will be allowed to speak.

ZANU PF is campaigning for the controversial Kariba draft constitution that seeks to keep the excessive powers of the President intact. To try and achieve this they are using intimidation and terror to coerce villagers in rural areas. Its youth members are said to be taking down names of people who are attending meetings on civic education, or those organized by NGO’s. ‘We are being threatened with death and expulsion from the villages if we speak during the outreach meetings,’ said one participant who spoke to the Crisis Coalition.

It was reported earlier this year that ZANU PF launched ‘Operation Hapana Anotaura’ (No One Will Speak) to try and silence people during the constitutional outreach exercise. ZANU PF thugs in Mudzi involved in this have been named as; George Katsande, Sovorodia Jobo, Lovemore Chirafu, Tatenda Kamungara, David Sabau, Martin Majokara, Mai Machipisa, Chiusekedzo, Rosemary Nyamimo, Rosemary Kanembo, Chidanawa Karonga, Dudzai Chirapu and the Mudzi North ZANU PF MP, Newten Kachepa.

While the politicians talk-up the coalition government and claim progress has been made, life for ordinary people, especially in rural areas, throws up the reality of ongoing political violence and intolerance.

For example Freddie Matonhodze, an MDC official in Muzarabani, lost his wife and relatives to ZANU PF 2008 election violence. He told the IRIN news agency that he fled to Harare, but returned home after the signing of the unity deal, hoping that things would be better. But he said; “My neighbours were hostile to me, and bragged that the GPA only applied in Harare and not in rural areas’.

Making matters worse for Matonhodze was that ZANU PF thugs set his homestead and tractor on fire, and even more cruelly his pigs which were in an enclosure. He said the violence has resumed and they have had to appeal to JOMIC (Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee) who oversee the implementation of the unity deal,to come and help bring peace after ZANU-PF supporters set a building on fire used by MDC supporters.

Matonhodze said JOMIC has promised to visit the area one of these days, but they are still waiting. He fears ‘there could be a bloodbath if nothing is done soon.’

Meanwhile, also in Muzarabani, the group Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR), report that Chief Kasekete is abusing his authority to punish villagers who support the MDC. ROHR spokesman Ronald Mureverwi told Newsreel the Chief forcibly took 3 beasts, 2 goats and 2 chickens from a family in the Kagoda village. Brothers Alfred and Benjamin Machimbidzofa were accused of ‘insulting’ Andrew Chiwere, a notorious ZANU PF supporter and war veteran, who spearheaded the 2008 election violence. The livestock was taken from them as punishment, according to the ‘judgment’ of the Chief.