News Briefs

HARARE – Violence against Zimbabwean opposition members continued last week even as power-sharing talks got under way between the ruling Zanu (PF) and MDC, sources said on July 25.

Soldiers and suspected Zanu (PF) militia abducted two MDC drivers in the Buhera South constituency of eastern Manicaland province this week who had gone there to transport victims of earlier political violence to hospitals for medical care.

Provincial MDC spokesman, Pishai Muchauraya, that local activists sought assistance from the ZRP, but police officers told them that their hands were tied in the matter.

MDC officials said they were trying to establish the identities of 60 individuals whose bodies remained unclaimed at a Harare hospital and who are believed to be opposition members slain in post-election violence. Though the hospital occasionally receives unidentified bodies, MDC officials said they fear some of the bodies now in the mortuary could be those of activists who went missing in the approach to and the aftermath of the June 27 run-off election.

MDC Home Affairs Secretary Sam Sipepa Nkomo said it had not been easy to make identifications as some bodies have been mutilated or badly burned. – VOA

Forced to drink Chinese-manufactured herbicide

MDC activists forced to drink poison

CHIWESHE – Soldiers and Zanu (PF) militia forced MDC activists to drink Paraquat, a highly toxic herbicide used for weed control.

Hilton Chironga suffered horrific facial injuries, described as corrosive burns, caused by the Chinese herbicide when he, together with his mother, his sister and a neighbour were forced to drink it at a militia base at Tetra farm.

Shingi Nyoni, an investigator into human rights abuses, told us Hilton’s brother Gibson was shot dead by the militia the same day he was forced to consume poison. Two other people died in the same attack.

‘Hilton and his mother are currently admitted at a hospital in Harare. One other person identified as Madamombe died from the poison. To date he only takes liquids, milk and soup and is in constant pain,’ Nyoni said.

Paraquat is highly toxic if swallowed and as little as one teaspoonful of the active ingredient is fatal. Death occurs up to 30 days after ingestion.

Apart from forcing people to drink the herbicide, the militia and soldiers inflicted serious injuries on others by dipping their knobkerries and sticks into Paraquat, before beating their victims.  

‘To make matters worse, most of these victims are not getting any help from the government to deal with their injuries. They need specialized medicines and doses for their wounds and treatment,’ Nyoni said. – SW Radio Africa

More MDC activists abducted, tortured

MANICALAND – Two MDC activists, Witness Maambire, the then Chief Election agent to Samuel Muzerengwa (MDC senator for Buhera) and a friend, were abducted at gun point by Colonel Morgan Mzilikazi at Chapanduka Business Centre on July 24. The MP elected for the area, Naison Nemadziwa, had to run into the mountains for his safety.

The three had gone to fetch 17 MDC activists who were tortured on July 17.  When they parked at Chapanduka Business Centre, Colonel Morgan Mzilikazi and a number of armed militia came to the MDC truck and abducted Witness Maambire and his colleague at gunpoint.

It is not clear whether Witness Maambire and his colleague were taken to a torture camp at Jori or other torture camps around Buhera. The whereabouts and safety of the MP are also not known. The injured 17 people are also still in Buhera.

Meanwhile, in Buhera South, Wilson Jori (65) from Ward 28, Chief Nyashanu, was fined eight goats and 18 chickens for being an MDC sympathiser before being severely assaulted and tortured after he was forced to attend a Zanu (PF) rally on July 17.

Jori said Zanu (PF) militias forced people to attend a ‘ victory celebration meeting’. It was during the meeting that the militias demanded the goats and chickens from all MDC sympathisers and later beat them severely on their back and buttocks using electrtric cables, wire, logs and sjambocks, ‘to be certain that they have rejoined Zanu (PF).’

Among the militias were Peter Madangure, Musi Chikobvore, Benson Mandizha, Tungamirai Matanga, Peter Chatikobo, Kuda Murove, Muchuru Mazenge, Akira Munamati and Zanu (PF) losing chancellor candidate, Boas Chimombe.

Jori has since been living in agony without medication.

There are more than 20 MDC activists who have deeper wounds and are developing maggots as the Zanu (PF) militias are denying them freedom to travel to seek treatment.  

US steps up pressure on Mugabe junta

BY STAFF REPORTER

HARARE – The U.S. government has widened its targeted sanctions list to include seventeen companies linked to President Robert Mugabe’s regime and one individual alleged to be helping the Mugabe regime pillage mineral wealth in the DRC.

A statement sent to The Zimbabwean from the US state department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) says 17 entities, including several Zimbabwean parastatals, and one individual whose support for Robert Mugabe’s regime contributes to the undermining of democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe have been designated.  

“In light of the continued intransigence of the brutal Mugabe regime, the U.S. is imposing further sanctions against this regime and its supporters,” said OFAC Director, Adam J. Szubin. “These actions send a clear warning to those who would protect Mugabe and his assets at the expense of the Zimbabwean people.”

The designations include a number of Zimbabwean parastatals and entities that are owned or controlled by the Government of Zimbabwe. Mugabe, his senior officials, and regime cronies have used these entities to illegally siphon revenue and foreign exchange from the Zimbabwean people, Szubin said.  

The US Treasury’s designations include the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), the sole marketing and export agent for all minerals, except gold and silver, mined in Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), involved in investment in the mining industry in Zimbabwe, and in planning, coordinating and implementing mining projects on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), Zimbabwe’s largest steel works; the Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe (Agribank), a commercial bank owned by the Government of Zimbabwe; the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe Ltd, a state-owned enterprise that owns a large number of companies operating in the industrial sector, including the chemical, clothing and textiles, mineral processing, and motor and transport sectors; the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, a financing entity; Zimre Holdings Limited, an investment and reinsurance entity; ZB Financial Holdings Limited, a holding company for a group of companies involved in commercial and merchant banking; and four major subsidiaries of ZB Financial Holdings Limited: ZB Bank Limited (Zimbank), ZB Holdings Limited, Intermarket Holdings Limited, and Scotfin Limited.

Also designated is Thamer Bin Saeed Ahmed Al-Shanfari, an Omani national with close ties to Mugabe and his top officials, as well as his company, Oryx Natural Resources, which Al-Shanfari uses to enable Mugabe and his senior officials to maintain access to, and derive personal benefit from, various mining ventures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

OFAC has also designated Operation Sovereign Legitimacy (OSLEG), an enterprise that is a commercial arm of the Zimbabwean army representing its interests in the DRC and elsewhere, and which is controlled by various senior officials in Zimbabwe. The activities of OSLEG and Al-Shanfari’s Oryx Natural Resources, benefiting Mugabe and his regime’s senior officials, have been widely documented by various non-governmental and human rights organizations.

OFAC said it had also designated the following companies that are owned or controlled by a number of Specially Designated Nationals: Divine Homes, a property company whose Chairman is David Chapfika, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture; COMOIL (Pvt) Ltd., a petroleum importing company, owned by Saviour Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Youth Development and Employment Creation; and Famba Safaris, a registered Zimbabwean safari operator, whose Director and major shareholder is Webster Shamu, Minister of State for Policy Implementation.

“As a result of Treasury’s action, any assets of the individual and entities designated today that are within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen,” Szubin said. “Additionally, U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with the individual or entities.”