NCA warns perpetrators of violence and offers advice on safety

By Tererai Karimakwenda
22 April 2008

The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) have issued a strongly worded statement condemning members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the security forces, for their failure to protect opposition supporters across the country, who are being targeted and brutalised in the aftermath of the harmonised elections. As the systematic state-sponsored violence escalates, the NCA offered advice for ordinary citizens to protect themselves and warned that perpetrators would be prosecuted.
Tapera Kapuya, NCA information officer in South Africa, said the group is not calling for the public to attack anyone, but simply to be organised into groups and be careful about their movements, particularly at night. He advised those who go drinking to be vigilant, alert and to move in groups of six or more, but never alone.

Kapuya referred to an interview on South Africa’s SABC television news on Monday night, in which Zim government spokesperson Bright Matonga said Zimbabwe no longer had a reputation to protect and ‘is going to clamp down on those perceived to be enemies of the state.’ Kapuya said this shows that the government has abrogated it’s duty to protect it’s citizens and declared war on the people, and it was therefore necessary to advise them on how to protect each other.

The NCA is advising people to form ‘back-up’ squads in the suburbs to protect their “houses, property and human lives from ZANU-PF malcontents”. A statement from the group read: “Youths should organise and patrol their localities during the night to save their mothers, sisters and brothers from ZANU PF vampires' purporting to be war veterans.” He stressed that they are not calling for any form of violence.

Kapuya said they are busy compiling the names of alleged perpetrators of the violence, with the aim of eventually prosecuting them in their individual capacity. He said they have credible reports and evidence linking not only the police, but ZANU-PF elements, to the violence. “We call upon all Zimbabweans to record the names of perpetrators and make them known”, said Kapuya. He added that anyone with information can contact NCA offices across the country.