HARARE-A ZANU PF supporter who forcibly occupied a house belonging to a Mbare resident during the run up to the sham 27 June 2008 presidential election has been forced to ....vacate the premises by a Harare court.
The ruling by Harare Magistrate Priscilla Chigumba last week likely sets the stage for more claims against the partys hardliners who looted several properties from defenceless Zimbabweans at the height of the political violence that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says left more than 200 of its supporters dead.
Lovemore Pfori and a group of ZANU PF thugs led by Earnest Rutsvaru and Chamunorwa Mavhiri evicted Shilla Musimbirachako from her Matapi Flat in Mbare where she had resided since August 2001, court papers show. They looted her belongings, which they later sold.
Musimbirachako, who has been living in
Chitungwiza after her eviction, is one of many
Mbare residents and some MDC supporters
countrywide who were evicted from their
homes and had their property illegally seized as
punishment for supporting the MDC.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai handed President
Robert Mugabe his first electoral defeat in the
March 2008 presidential election but failed to
garner enough votes to avoid a run-off. Tsvangirai
pulled out of the planned re-run poll citing gross
human rights abuses and political violence against
members of his MDC party.
Various members of the group (then) ordered me
out of the flat, stating that it belonged to ZANU PF
and that as an MDC supporter, I was to leave the
property. The invading group immediately started
taking and wantonly looting my belongings as
I attempted to hold on to what I could, said
Musimbirachako in court papers.
Earnest Rutsvaru then proceeded to assault me
all over the body together with my child and my
housemaid, she added.
Musimbirachako reported the matter at Matapi
police station, but the officers refused to pursue
the complaint.
Much to my surprise, the Member in Charge
of Matapi Police Station simply asked me,
rhetorically, whether I did not know that there
was a ruling party. As such, no docket was
opened and no assistance was offered by the
Zimbabwe Republic Police Officers at Matapi
Police Station, Musimbirachako says in the
court papers.
But a Harare Magistrate last week ordered Pfori
to vacate Musimbirachakos flat within 24 hours
of the delivery of the order after Musimbirachako
filed for eviction.
First Respondent (Pfori) and all those acting
through him are ordered to vacate Block 9A13
Matapi Flats, Mbare with immediate effect,
that is to say, within 24 hours of the delivery
of this order, all their wares and other
persons so occupying the property must
have been ejected from the property and all
locks used at the property must have been
surrendered to the applicant, Magistrate
Chigumba said.
Musimbirachako is just one of several
Mbare residents who lost their properties
after ZANU PF supporters went on
the rampage in the suburb and forced
occupants to leave their homes and seek
alternative accommodation.
Besides the Mbare residents several
villagers in the rural areas were forced to
surrender their livestock, grain and other
belongings to some ZANU PF supporters.
However, the villagers have teamed up to
demand and repossess their belongings.
Post published in: News