By As political violence continues to rear its ugly head in Zimbabwe, State sponsored abductions and torture are slowly becoming a common sight as ZanuPF defends its political power after a controversial electoral victory.
A man in his sixties Mr. Lancelot Chimberegwa has been confirmed dead after being physically assaulted and left for dead in his rural homestead of Chiweshe. He was a known and popular MDC supporter, who has been missing for some days before his body was found dumped with some serious head and stomach injuries.
The political violence has heated up once again ahead of the by elections for Kuwadzana seeking to replace the MDC’s Learnmore Jongwe who died while in prison awaiting trial on charges of murdering his wife.
While both political parties have been blamed for the current political violence, the state and ZanuPF militia have been at the forefront of most conflicts reported with police doing absolutely nothing against named and reported perpetrators.
Some militia have been using government vehicles while unmarked vehicles perceived to be those of State security agents have been reported to be behind abductions and state assisted violations.
The MDC will field its popular former student leader Nelson Chamisa who is the party’s Youth Assembly chairman.
The Zanu-PF candidate, David Mutasa, is described as “an artist and a strong supporter of the party for many years”. The third candidate is Kempton Chiwewete, from the National Alliance for Good Governance.
Political tempers have been flaring since the 2002 hotly contested elections which were marred by violence and political murders, as Zanu-PF and MDC clash over their disputed elections.
Recently state security forces arrested over 400 activists and other citizens, and many more were violently attacked both by security forces and by ruling party militia. The government deployed large numbers of military personnel to low-income suburbs of Harare and other urban areas. Further, in the run-up to two parliamentary by-elections held on March 29 and 30, the MDC was prevented from undertaking normal campaign activities, and known party activists were detained, beaten and harassed.
Public demonstrations and protests are effectively illegal under the 2002 Public Order and Security Act (POSA), which curtails citizens’ rights to freedom of expression. Serious restrictions on citizens’ rights to assembly and association have made it difficult for elected representatives to regularly meet with their constituents – meetings are either declared illegal or are otherwise disrupted. In addition, police and youth militia have dispersed public meetings that received police clearance, private organizational meetings, and meetings of organizations that are exempt from POSA.
Meanwhile, Six men, including an opposition member of parliament, are accused of murdering Cain Nkala, a veteran of Zimbabwe’s war for independence, 13 months ago in the city of Bulawayo.
One of those on trial is opposition member of parliament Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, who is also treasurer general for the opposition party. He is a diabetic, and recently had an eye removed, because, his doctors say, he had inadequate medical treatment during his imprisonment on these charges.
Three of the accused, who said they signed confessions under torture, have been in prison for 14 months. Their release was ordered by the courts last year, but the prison authorities refused to obey the order.
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