Last week the BBC had a report that groups of MDC supporters returning from South Africa were carrying out reprisal attacks against Zanu PF war veterans who had beaten up their relatives. The link to the piece was emailed to us by a few people with different messages ranging from “It’s about time someone did this”, to “I hope Sokwanele will condemn this as much as you do Zanu PF-led violence”.

The incidents, close to Zimbabwe’s border with South Africa, followed accusations of torture and arson attacks by war veterans.

Youths loyal to the opposition have now launched retaliatory attacks against the veterans.

Sokwanele campaigns for non violence, and that includes all forms of violence so we condemn these sort of actions completely.

I delayed my response to this because we’ve been adding more violence data to our map and I wanted to see if this latest sample included violence against civilians perpetrated by MDC supporters. It does: out of the total of 2094 cases mapped so far, there are four cases in Harare denoted by four bright pink map pins. These were not, as you might imagine, all MDC reprisal attacks against Zanu PF thugs – three of them are cases arising out of infighting between the two MDC formations and only one was of a Zanu PF supporter who came forward to report his experience at the hands of an MDC supporter. (more…)

Food shortages and hyperinflation are forcing people to take desperate measures to survive. Some extremely hungry people have taken to buying animal feed intended for cattle and chickens by the cupful  (because a full bag is too expensive) for their own consumption. It’s a worrying development because there is no telling what additives might have been added to the feed. For example, if hormones have been added, what would the long term impact be on humans or on child development?

The military, however, are not eating animal feed. They have been seen buying animals for slaughter in some rural areas. Reports we’ve received say that the soldiers are using foreign currency to buy the meat. The big question is, where are they getting the cash? In addition to the ‘forex’ clanger, we’ve been told that the Bakossi shops are being used primarily for Zanu PF card holders. So Mugabe loyalists receive privileged treatment yet again. (more…)

Well Bob couldn’t let the opportunity to speak go by and what a fool he made of himself. The first thing that was obvious and apparent is that he sounds really, really old, slow and weighed down.

He opened his rant after Gono’s budget statement was over by claiming that Gono’s written statement ended with the words that he “committed the monetary statement to God’s hands”, but Bob insisted he didn’t hear Gono say it.

Well we heard it, over the radio, clear as day. Will somebody please turn up Bob’s hearing aid! (more…)

This is YT, who came in for medical treatment yesterday from Mteta village, Mudzi.

On Saturday 19th July, 2008, he and two others were taken from their homes to Chimkoko Militia Base in Mudzi and beaten with sticks by the Zanu PF militia. They were kept there overnight and after being beaten again on the Sunday, were “released” and told to go home.

The militia said “where were you all along, we’ve been waiting for you, you want to sell land to Morgan Tsvangirai, he’s not good, he’s a donkey”.

Where is the commitment of the Zanu PF regime to dialogue when they are not prepared to stop the violence, torture, abductions and arrests and detentions of our officials and members?

The ripple effect of the displacements (and burning peoples homes) is that there are many very sick people coming in for medical treatment as a result of being in the cold. Many of those sick will be immuno-suppressed and therefore more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

There cannot be a way forward until the war against the people of Zimbabwe has been stopped. The war is being viciously waged against the people of Zimbabwe, who exercised their democratic right to vote for a new President and a new Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe talks set to resume Sunday: Mbeki (AFP / Reuters)
South African President Thabo Mbeki said, after meeting with Robert Mugabe, that power-sharing talks between the MDC and Zanu-PF would resume on Sunday. Mbeki said that talks were “progressing”. He said that he had come to brief Mugabe on how far negotiations have gone. The meeting between Mbeki and Mugabe lasted an hour.

Tsvangirai denied new passport (The Zimbabwe Times)
Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the MDC has again been denied a new passport by the Zimbabwean authorities. Tsvangirai was given an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) instead, which confines his travel to Africa. The ETD is only valid for six months.

The Zimbabwe Times reports that the decision to deny Tsvangirai a new passport was made at a Joint Operations Command (JOC) meeting, held at the Mukwati Building on June 16. Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede was allegedly summoned and instructed to withhold Tsvangirai’s passport for “security reasons”.

Tsvangirai used the ETD to travel to South Africa on Monday to meet with his negotiators after inter-party talks reportedly became deadlocked over disagreements over power-sharing arrangements. (more…)

MDC Press Release

In spite of the on-going SADC-brokered dialogue in South Africa, two MDC activists were last week murdered by Zanu PF supporters.

The body of Fungisai Ziome, an MDC activist who was abducted at her home on 23 July 2008, was discovered in a maize field on Saturday morning in Glendale, Mazowe South constituency, in Mashonaland Central province.

Ziome, of Ward 13 in Glendale, was an active MDC supporter who was abducted by Zanu PF supporters who then mutilated, burnt and dumped her body, which was later, discovered in the early hours of Saturday by passers-by in the area.

A report was made about the murder to the police but no arrests have been made. The MDC and Ziome’s relatives are waiting for a post mortem before burial arrangements are made.

Meanwhile, Kingsley Muteta, a police officer, died at Harare’s Avenues Clinic on Saturday after being beaten by a mob of 12 Zanu PF supporters at his parents’ homestead in Mudzi.

Muteta who was working in Harare, had visited his mother when he was attacked by the mob, which accused him of visiting his mother when he knew she was a known MDC activist.

He was taken to Kotwa Hospital in Mudzi and later transferred to Harare where he died on Saturday due to the injuries that he sustained.

His body is also waiting for a post mortem before he is buried.

The MDC has asked Zanu PF to show its sincerity to the dialogue process by stopping violence, disbanding all militia bases and prosecuting all perpetrators of political violence.

The deaths show that there is no sincerity on the part of Zanu PF. The death of the two brings to 122 the number of MDC activists who have been murdered since the March 29 harmonised elections.

This blogger listened to the radio today in amazement…

Part one aired on the radio this morning was a brief monetary statement from Gono – a digestible 20 minutes. Part two was a long, boring, dragged out drone from Robert Mugabe.

“Food Security: the Answer to Disinflation”  – this grand statement is the title for Gono’s mid-term budget.

Gono started, with his normal salutations to the representatives of government, journalists and diplomats. He even had the grace to thank representatives of both formations of the MDC when he said to them, “Welcome, this is how it should be”. But he showed his true sycophantic colours with his demand that a special round of applause be awarded to Mugabe, the special guest, whom he admitted is under extreme pressure.

Gono went on to emphasise that the future of the economy is dependent on political stability. Predictably, he laid the blame of the country’s economic woes on sanctions, the tired and worn excuse dredged up by those in power at every possible opportunity to absolve themselves of any responsibility. He ended with the hackneyed warning that those in the international community, our enemies, are keen to see Zimbabwe fail.

Finally Gono got to the meat of the budget. (more…)

This report draws upon 3320 formal interviews with victims of human rights abuses over the last three months. This figure represents a fraction of those directly affected by violence, the majority of whom are likely to have failed to access appropriate medical assistance.

Download and read the report here.