Zanu PF: Ramping up violence while calling for it to end
Posted by ZDN on July 29, 2009
Comment: Zimbabwe Democracy Now
So much for Zimbabwe’s three days of peace and national healing! But then, nobody in their right minds would believe for a moment that Robert Mugabe had any intention of changing tack and committing himself to a peaceful solution for Zimbabwe.
When he called for an end to violence in the country last weekend, Mugabe said people should promote “the values and practice of tolerance, respect, non-violence and dialogue as a means of resolving political differences.” Sounds good on paper or over the state-controlled airwaves, but Mugabe has a long history of playing to the cameras while his paid thugs create mayhem behind the scenes.
And, for the past week it’s been business as usual. Last Wednesday evening, Mrs Athanancia Mlilo, a 63-year-old nurse and mother of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) official Nqobizitha Mlilo, was savagely beaten over the head with an iron bar and left for dead in her small home town of Mvuma. Mlilo, a top aide to Finance Minister Tendai Biti, believes the attack was politically motivated and that Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s thugs may have been responsible. Mnangagwa has an appalling track record of violence and is a dangerous and ruthless adversary.
The unprecedented violence in the run up to last year’s fraudulent Presidential election run-off in June included vicious beatings of elderly people, notably a 79-year-old widow who was thrashed with barbed wire. Children were also brutalised and at least three were deliberately burnt alive in a hut.
Assaults and intimidation
On Saturday, the Zimbabwe Standard reported that, “as Zimbabwe prepared to celebrate three days of peace and national healing, an MDC-T activist, Ebba Katiyo from Uzumba, a village in Mashonaland East province, was battling life-threatening injuries inflicted by Zanu PF supporters a few days earlier.” After two brutal assaults, she was saved by an MDC team summoned to her rescue, and rushed to hospital.
Also during the “weekend of peace and reconciliation”, the air force tried to intimidate 10 000 MDC supporters attending an MDC rally in Mutoko East. An air force helicopter was flown in and hovered so low over the crowd that one of the crew was actually identified. The officer, a man called Manhanga, is known to have worked under the command of Bramwell Katsvairo who spearheaded violence in Mashonaland East province during the Presidential run-off election.
The use of helicopters to instil fear and cause panic is also not new. In May last year, as the Presidential run-off violence escalated, Zanu PF militia members attacked Kodzwa village in Mazowe Central constituency, leading to the villagers retaliating bravely. An army helicopter was called in and it too hovered menacingly while the police arrested more than 20 MDC members.
On Monday, despite the mounting pressure, Mlilo was back at his desk reporting that Tendai Biti, who is also the MDC Secretary General, had received a live bullet in a letter – yet another trademark death threat. Previously leaked Zanu PF strategic documents have indicated he is a top figure on their hit list. The letter told Biti to “sort out his estate”.
Bullets in the post are another favoured tool in Zanu PF’s arsenal. In February 2007, Bill Saidi, then acting editor of the Zimbabwe Standard, received a bullet and note warning him to be careful. This was after he had published a cartoon focusing attention on the pathetically low pay received by defence force troops. Fat cat salaries are reserved for those at the top – the arrogant “top brass” who drip with gold braid and medals.
Gearing up for violence
The writing is clearly on the wall. Zanu PF is gearing up once again for violence. Last time it was for the elections. This time it is dual purpose.
Message one to all Zimbabweans is that the Kariba draft constitution – which protects Mugabe’s power and would enable him to serve another two terms in office – has to be adopted, otherwise the orgy of violence will resume. By dying in office, Mugabe would avoid prosecution for gross human rights abuses perpetrated throughout his 20-year tenture.
Message two is that Zanu PF is gearing up once again for an election, predicted to be as early as March next year. Mugabe and his thugs have had enough of being part of a transitional government and the restrictions of the Global Political Agreement are irksome in the extreme. So it’s time once again to deploy the youth militia – unemployed youngsters who are useful instruments of violence and expendable cannon fodder.
Earlier this month, the notorious Minister of Youth Development, Empowerment and Indigenisation, Saviour Kasukuwere, said plans were at an advanced stage for the reopening of youth “training centres” across the country. Kasukuwere admitted openly that the former ruling party deployed militias to spearhead its violent election campaign last year that left hundreds of opposition supporters dead.
“We have done it…. all political party youths were involved in it,” he said. “It’s easy to take advantage of a young man or woman who is doing nothing.”
Kasukuwere is a known Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative who has been linked to the car accident in which Mrs Susan Tsvangirai was killed on Friday March 6.
Attacked with axes
Morgan Komichi, a senior MDC official involved in rural organisation, told IRIN this week that the reports of violence they are receiving at their offices are extremely shocking and barbaric.
“MDC supporters are being axed, while in some instances members of the military are viciously assaulting our members. Zanu PF is now actively pushing the agenda of national healing so that perpetrators of violence find an escape, so they don’t (have to) account for their actions.”
Komichi said the violence would end if Mugabe explicitly told his supporters to refrain from it. But Mugabe will never do that. He has his own aged skin to think of and his close friends – the thugs in Joint Operations Command (JOC) and his other cronies who have amassed fabulous wealth – may well be holding a discreet gun to his own head.
ZDN’s message to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is this:
As underwriters of the Global Political Agreement, you have inexplicably chosen to remain silent in the face of continued and blatant rights infringements by Zanu PF. Their strategy is patently clear. Not only has Zanu PF deliberately chosen to thwart any form of progress but they are now, irrefutably, gearing up for violence.
It is therefore your responsibility to take immediate action – before the blood of innocent Zimbabweans is once again spilt in a strategically orchestrated campaign of terror, the trademark modus operandi of Zanu PF.
Submit Reply
