Zim sliding back to 2008 anarchy

The MDC-T said last week that more than 1 000 families have been displaced around the country during the past few weeks after marauding Zanu (PF) militias destroyed and ransacked their homes. We have recorded 1 122 families who have been affected directly or indirectly by political violence. Some have been told to leave their homes on account of being MDC-T supporters, MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said.

The violence, with its epicentre in Mbare, has assumed a sinister and even macabre form that is reminiscent of the 2008 violence as people are being beaten and houses ransacked. Zanu (PF) denies the allegations and counter-accuses the MDC-T of instigating the violence.

The partys spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told the local media that Zanu (PF) was clean and does not have anything to do with the resurgent cases of violence. There is nothing like that. We do not know that. As Zanu (PF) we are not involved in violence, said Gumbo.

But overwhelming evidence has pointed at Zanu (PF) as being behind the violence. Zanu (PF) supporters have attacked their MDC-T opponents in the last two weeks, culminating last Tuesdays looting of a downtown shopping complex in Harare by youths supporting Mugabes controversial empowerment programme. One of the affected families said they were ordered to leave their Epworth home without any belongings.

They came to our home in Epworth in the afternoon and accused us of being members of the MDC. They then forced us to leave and I am staying here because there is nowhere else I could go, said a woman who refused to be named. Some of the families have been in hiding since the end of January. The victims, who are holed up in safe houses around the country, say that they have not only lost their homes but their livelihood and education for their children. According to the Heal Zimbabwe Trust, eight houses have been destroyed in Epworth while 10 were destroyed in Bindura.

The situation is likely to get worse, children are not going to school but their homes have been destroyed. The government should do something to end the violence, Heal Zimbabwe Spokesperson Sithabile Dewah said. Heal Zimbabwe has also condemned the Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation for keeping mum while the country slides into pre-coalition government violence.

The silence of the Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation has become cause for concern. People wonder if there have been ever sincere in living to the dictates of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), said Heal Zimbabwe in a statement. While Tsvangirai has publicly condemned the violence, Mugabe has not said anything.

We can only go home when Mugabe, (Zanu PF Politburo member) Tendai Savanhu and (Police Commissioner General Augustine) Chihuri condemn the violence. Otherwise we will not go home. Chipangano is in war mode, said a victim whose house has been taken by the Chipangano youths. Chipangano is a group of Mbare thugs used by Savanhu to terrorise Zanu (PF) opponents in the poor Harare suburb of Mbare.

Analysts fear that the violence could worsen in coming months as a desperate Zanu (PF) seeks to cow opponents ahead of a referendum on a new Constitution and possible elections this year. From what we have seen so far, we could be headed for worse violence than we witnessed in 2008 unless SADC (the Southern African Development Community) flexes its muscle and tell Mugabe to call off the attacks. Without that, Zimbabwe is going to slide into anarchy, said political analyst Donald Porusingazi.

More than 500 mainly MDC-T supporters were killed in the violence that accompanied the June 2008 presidential election run-off that pitted Mugabe against Tsvangirai. Porusingazi said Zanu (PF) was likely to intensify its terror campaign this year as it attempts to reverse the electoral losses suffered in parliamentary polls held in March 2008.