Rape and physical abuse of women by Zanu PF militia

Cases of rape and abuse carried out by Zanu PF “war veterans” and youth during the election campaign period are beginning to surface. Victims were sworn to silence after receiving death threats from the marauding militia and are now speaking out due to the cessation of political violence in most areas and cooling of attitudes.

The numbers of rape cases attributed to the notorious Jawet Kazangarare are on the increase, adding to the reported case of 13 year old Ella Ruvanga.

He is accused of the assault and rape of Oripa Ndyara and assault was prior to the rape after the victim had turned down his advances.

Kazangarare is also accused of raping and impregnating his own niece, Sarudzai Kazangarare.

Violet and Maina Mwayira, both married women were gang-raped on the 23rd of June by Zanu PF members K. Kateyo and his 6 accomplices. The perpetrators threatened to destroy the victims’ home and murder family members if they reported the case to the police. They told the women that the rape was meant to show that they had forgiven them for being MDC.

Below is a translated transcript of Violet and Maina Mwayira’s ordeal.

To whom it may concern

On the 23rd of June there was a Zanu PF meeting called by the Zanu PF ward chairman, Kenneth Kateyo. He came to where I was seated and told me that I was supposed to come to his house in the evening because the gravity of my issue made it impossible for it to be discussed in a public setting.

He went on to say that I was supposed to attend the meeting at his home to finish once and for all the issue of my involvement in the MDC, thus ensuring that I was not going to cast my June 27 vote at Jawet Kazangarare’s home, where MDC supporters where being beaten up badly.

When the meeting ended early in the evening he then sent a woman by the name Evelyn Magova, who reiterated that I was supposed to go to Kenneth Kateyo’s home for the meeting. I went home and returned in the company of my younger sister as it was getting dark. We are both married to the same husband.

When we got to his home for the meeting, not much was said with regard to the meeting’s main agenda, which is my involvement in the MDC. He said the issue was now over and he only wanted to know the contents of the statement that I had been forced to write and send to Jawet Kazangarare, relating to my involvement in the MDC. The meeting then ended, and his wife saw us off returned to her home after a short distance.

We walked and reached a stream, that’s when a man emerged from the bush. We were very scared and before we could run he identified himself as Kenneth Kateyo and six more men armed with knockberries emerged.

He went on to say he was now going to resolve my issue and I was lucky to have brought another woman otherwise if I had come alone I would have seen red.

Some of the men held us down and tied our mouths to muffle our screams while the others began unbuckling their trouser belts and undoing their trouser buttons and zips.

They went further to say that if we screamed they were going to kill not only us, but our husband also since he is MDC. They then took turns to rape us, all six of them and disappeared into the night shortly afterwards.

An issue that bothered me after the ordeal was that all six men were wearing condoms, showing that the rape had been planned prior. When we got home our husband had returned but we resolved not to tell him our experience because we feared for his welfare and ours.

At the moment, there is no happiness in our home.

Stranded
Maina and Violet Mwayira

The case was reported to the police, but as in all other cases (assault, arson and murder) that have occurred and have been reported in the Mashonaland West province and the victims are members of the MDC, no action has been taken to date.

This entry was posted by Sokwanele on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.