Violent reprisal attacks in Zimbabwe
This is the reality of democracy under Robert Mugabe.
The two men in these images are both MDC office bearers in the Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. They were beaten on Tuesday night by Zanu PF militia based in the area.
Last night, three houses were burned down in the same area.
Update: Someone just sent us this link to an article on The Guardian. The words here give some sense of what’s going on in this region, and put the pictures above in context:
The patients at Louisa Guidotti hospital said there were eight men, one carrying a shotgun, another with an AK-47, others with pistols, and they went from bed to bed forcing out anyone who could walk.
Nurses were dragged away from the sick. Motorists driving by the hospital, 87 miles north-east of Harare, were stopped and taken from their cars.
About 70 people were gathered in the grounds. Then the lecture began. “This is your last chance,” said one of the armed men. “You messed up when you voted. Next time you vote you must get it right or you will die.”
One of the men selected people to stand and shout slogans of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party and to sing songs from the liberation war . Those who did not do so enthusiastically were beaten. Another cocked his gun and told the crowd to point out opposition supporters.
[...]
Louisa Guidotti hospital is in Mutoko East constituency in Mashonaland East, once a Mugabe stronghold where Abel Samakande was the MDC’s parliamentary candidate. Samakande lost but made strong inroads into traditional Zanu-PF territory, picking up about 42% of the vote.
Now that achievement is coming back to haunt those who supported him. He said the first indication he had of the return of the terror tactics was when he was tipped off by friends in Zanu-PF that he was being hunted.
“They told us there was a meeting at which it was decided to eliminate one of the local MDC leaders. Our friends in Zanu-PF warned us not to sleep in our houses, to move in groups,” he said. Then he had a call telling him that armed men had descended on the village of Matsande.
“When we heard about these armed men we went to the police for assistance. The officer in charge said he could not help,” said Samakande.
There’s more. Read the full article, titled “Vote Mugabe or you Die” here.
Please click here to visit our action alert. Please take action.
April 10th, 2008 14:35
This is now just too disgusting to say the least.. Please people, the ones that have authority PLEASE stand up against this,PLEASE DO SOMETHING AND DO IT NOW. Please don’t wait any longer. Enough is enough.
April 10th, 2008 16:30
Sorry to do this, but does anyone recall Wrex Tarr’s famous “The News”?
“Tommorrow is voting day for the President! There will be two black boxes. If you vote for the President you will put your vote in the one black box. If you do NOT vote for the President you WILL BE PUT in the other black box!”
Bit of accurate forcasting there, considering the jest was made well over 30 years ago….
April 10th, 2008 17:38
This is so disgusting. How long will we have to wait for the election results to be announced? As long as Mugabe is in power the attrocities will continue. Hope that one day Mugabe will be beaten, stabbed, burnt and tortured like these poor innocent people.
April 10th, 2008 22:19
When Morgan Tsvangirai goes to Zambia this weekend, let him take a portfolio of such pictures for the delegates to see. They will say all that needs to be said about what’s happening in Zimbabwe.
I don’t know what is wrong with our President but it’s always been an issue that he was an exile during the ’struggle’ years. People who faced the apartheid forces and were beaten or tortured would surely not be able to look on these pictures and turn away.
April 11th, 2008 19:09
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Evil is prevailing simply because the good is silent. History shall judge us harshly for our inactivity during these trying times! stand up and be counted!
April 11th, 2008 19:45
Excuse me! and we continue to keep quiet yet this guy is harming the nation like this. NONONONO! This is very wrong, yes when Tsvangirai goes 2 this summit, i wish he could take these photos with him. Mugabe – you are going to pay for all this, its a matter of time. Mwari ndewedu tese manje.
April 11th, 2008 20:00
thank you for your efforts mr mwanawase please keep up the pressue.mr mbeki you jave let us down and you are really compromising your reputation the charge being error of ommission.the members of sadc you are about to make yourself a joke if you dont sort this out.12 days after the election you seat on the same table with a guy who is killing his own people .
April 12th, 2008 19:53
Mr Mbeki, shame on you. How can you face yourself while you stand there sycophantically denying anything is going on? What are you representing for the future of the African continent?
April 12th, 2008 22:24
umgabe yinja!
April 12th, 2008 22:56
This so painful. Thabo Mbeki should see these pictures. How can he say there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, this is the normal electoral process? Two weeks after the polls and no presidential results and call that normal! Thabo Mbeki will never do anything to help Zimbabwe either because he dead scared of Mugabe or they are best friends. If Mugabe can tell Bush off in the New York what is Thabo Mbeki to him. The SADC is just a club of executives who are all birds of the same feather and flock together, so they won’t do anything. They won’t betray one of their own.
April 13th, 2008 05:16
ZANU (PF) political machinery and its erstwhile thuggish leaders really don’t give a hoot what happens to the people, who in trying to exert their democratic rights, are mercilessly persecuted. These guys are going to be answerable for abominations of this nature. This is genocide writ small, and it is about time that all of us do something to alter these disasters, boldly enacted right before the eyes and ears of the world. In the name of our spirits, what gives a bunch of people an entitlement to the country, its people, and its resources? Where, in God’s name do we belong when the current regime recklessly trashes all that is precious? Why deny other people’s humanity simply because they are exercising their constitutional rights? Why have elections in the first place when the outcomes are foreordained? More to the point. what platform is Mugabe running on? What conceivable changes could he generate- after 28 years of stultification and directionlessness= this late hour? Whatever happened to the ’serve the people’ campaign? The country is not for sale; is not ZANU (PF) personal property, let alone Mugabe’s kingdom to do as he wishes with it. Zimbabwe belongs to its people, nothing more, nothing less! Ironically, the SADC dingy boat creaks along offering nothing but caution when boldness is needed.
April 13th, 2008 16:43
Mbeki can go burn. I wonder how he defines “crisis”. Shame on Mbeki.
April 14th, 2008 13:46
We teachers are not going to go back to work come second term.We want our president Morgan Tsvangirai to go to the state house first.Mbeki is a disgrace.
April 11th, 2008 06:28
Zimbabwe: enough is enough…
Sokwanele requests that supporters of human rights and democracy politely contact a number of official e-mail addresses in the Zambian government, the South African government, and the SADC……