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Zanu-PF 'unleashing revenge'
18/04/2008 10:57 - (SA)
Harare - Arthur Taderera marked Zimbabwe's Independence Day on Friday in a hospital where he's being treated for multiple bruises and suspected bone fractures after being attacked by government soldiers who recognised him as an opposition activist.
"They beat me and tormented me. They said I was a stooge who wanted to sell the country to the British and the whites," 56-year-old Taderera said from his hospital bed.
In a clampdown against opponents of President Robert Mugabe since the nation's March 29 election, scores of opposition supporters have been assaulted, beaten and tortured, human rights groups say.
On Friday, Zimbabwe is to celebrate 28 years of independence from colonial rule with a parade, an Air Force flyover and a speech by Mugabe at a sports stadium in the impoverished western Harare township of Highfield. A free soccer match also is scheduled.
Speaking in South Africa, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said it will be "the saddest Independence Day since our liberation from colonial rule". Already struggling under skyrocketing inflation and 80% unemployment, Zimbabweans now also do not know who won the presidency.
Zimbabwe has been waiting for results of the presidential vote for nearly three weeks. Independent tallies suggest Tsvangirai won, but not by enough to prevent a run-off.
Human rights groups say the ruling party has unleashed a campaign of revenge in an apparent attempt to intimidate the populace into supporting Mugabe in a run-off. The opposition has said it is reluctant to participate in a run-off.
Like hundreds of other opposition supporters, Taderera fled his home earlier this week to avoid the ruling party militants who were seeking out backers of Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC.
Trained to kill
On Wednesday, Taderera became one of the victims.
That afternoon about 10 soldiers wearing camouflage and helmets searched his car in the town of Chitungwiza, 25km south of Harare. They pulled out MDC campaign literature.
Taderera had been a polling agent for the party in the local district, observing as the MDC's Felix Mashu unseated a ruling party opponent.
On finding the campaign pamphlets, a soldier who called himself "Black Jesus" threatened to kill Taderera by cutting off his head with a bayonet, the victim said. Instead they beat him, boasting as they did that they were trained to kill people.
"Just do it, once and for all, I said. We are suffering and have been slowly dying for so long, just do it now," Taderera recounted, groaning in pain as he spoke falteringly to The Associated Press at the Harare hospital.
Villagers from outside the eastern town of Marondera said they slept in the bush for the past five nights after attackers destroyed their homes. Community leader Dominic Musekiwa said his homestead and three other homes were torched by pro-Mugabe militants and left in ruins.
"They wanted to know who we voted for," he said. Musekiwa said they were calling the onslaught "Operation Makavhoterapapi", a phrase in the local Shona language that means "where did you put your cross" on the ballot.
The independent Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights organisation says at least 200 people have been treated for severe injuries received in post-election violence. The group was investigating at least two reported but unconfirmed deaths.
'There's no protection from police'
Gabriel Karonga, 38, said he hasn't been able to find his two children since a group of men attacked his village in northeastern Zimbabwe. Burning homes created a smoke screen through which he couldn't see.
One woman told doctors she was among 100 people force marched into a school hall and made to lie face down on their stomachs, where they were kicked and beaten with wooden clubs. They were then made to chant ruling party slogans and swear allegiance to Mugabe.
Another villager at a privately run clinic in Harare said he was whipped and beaten with fence posts, barbed wire and vehicle fan belts. Attackers told him: "There's no protection from police. We do what we like," Owen Tafirenyika said.
Amid the latest surges in prices in the economic meltdown, any traditional social festivities aside from Mugabe's parade were expected to be muted after prices of scarce food, gasoline and drinks more than doubled since Tuesday.
Tsvangirai said he had hoped for a resolution by Independence Day: "Given the current state of decay and the political impasse that we face, I am sure rather than a celebration there is going to be serious commiseration."
Waiting in the hospital to heal, Taderera said he would be trying not to think of the holiday.
"People are crying. It is a travesty to talk of independence and freedom."
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