While the children played happily in the Sunday School, Juliet (whose real name we have had to disguise to protect her family and her incarcerated husband) conducted the church choir.
All that changed following the death of a policeman in a beerhall brawl near her home on May 29. Her husband was one of scores of people arrested and charged with the murder and all hell broke loose.
"The pastor came to our home and told me that I could no longer take part in church activities because other church members no longer felt safe in my presence. I couldn't believe it. Instead of consoling me, they chased me away. What would I tell the children?" Juliet said close to tears.
As wife of one of the so-called Glen View Seven MDC-T officials and activists still imprisoned on charges they took part in the murder of Zimbabwe Republic Police inspector Petros Mutedza on May 29, her life has virtually collapsed.
Visiting her husband since his arrest in June has proved to be the worst nightmare of her life. At first the police would not disclose his location. Then, cynically, one cop told her that he had confessed to the crime and had been shot. The nightmare seemed close to an end when he was brought to court, badly beaten and swollen, hardly able to walk, but alive.
"I thanked God when I saw him. It would be good news for the children, who continuously asked where their father was and I had no answer," she said. But the dreadful nightmare would not end so quickly.
The courts released five of detainees on bail, but have said seven will have to wait for their murder trial in 2012 while in remand prison.
Those still incarcerated are Ward 32 councillor Tungamirai Madzokere, Yvonne Musarurwa, Rebecca Mafukeni, brothers Stanford and Lazarus Maengahama, Phineas Nhatariko and Stanford Mangwiro. The women are being held at Chjkurubi Maximum Security Prison, where dangerous criminals live.
Now there are serious fears that some could die of their festering wounds and internal injuries after they were denied treatment for nearly three months.
Lead defence lawyer Charles Kwaramba says the attacks on them amounted to torture. He said the police used batons, boots, fists, rifle butts and open hands in attacking them. They were also starved and still do not have full access to their lawyers, believed to be one of the reasons their bail application at the High Court filed.
Madzokere is believed to have sustained serious internal injuries during the assaults by the police.
Soon after their arrest, MDC national executive member Last Maengahama was singled out for the worst treatment. He was taken to the dilapidated Matapi police police station in Mbare, which a magistrate earlier this year described as unfit for human habitation.
After severely assaulting him in relays, the cynical cops then let him loose in a cell in which they brought in members of the brutal Chipangano gang, disguised as fellow prisoners. The mobsters were given a free reign to attack him all night, with no policeman coming to his rescue.
Untold suffering
Glen View South MP Paul Madzore told The Zimbabwean that the case had led to serious problems for both the prisoners and their families. "The families of the detained people are suffering," Madzore said.
"For example, Councillor Madzokere is the breadwinner. His family is suffering and going without the basics. There's a lot of suffering." While the families are deprived of basic necessities, the prisoners are in a horrific situation as well, according to the MP.
"There's a lot of suffering. When they went into detention they were beaten up. Proper medical care was not offered. The food situation is bad. The relatives are in jeopardy and they an not help in any way.
The situation in prison is that there is not enough food and medication," said Madzore, who also chairs the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, Security and Home Affairs responsible for monitoring the country's prisons.
Last week, the MDC made a public appeal for financial assistance to help cover medical care for the detainees. This was after a magistrate finally acceded to the detainees demands that they be granted access to private doctors.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister and MDC-T Senator Obert Gutu visited the prisoners last week and indicated that help might finally be on the way for both the incarcerated and their families.
However, the mechanics of ensuring that the detainees get continuous access to food and health care could still prove difficult. When Juliet visited her husband with food recently, it was feasted on by guards as she watched. After she complained, on the next visit they made her wait until it was past visiting time. Again, they took the food and ate it.
Tense situation
The situation in Glen View remains tense. "There are incidences happening at night," Madzore said, selecting his words carefully in an effort not to incite angry MDC-T supporters in the area.
However, he admits that the work of Zimbabwe's most popular party has been severely compromised. "There's a lot of fear. Our operations have been made very difficult.
There's been a total decimation of our structures," the MP said. "For me as MP it's very difficult. hardly can people gather without fear of attack. There are families that have been targetted. I'm supposed to have people in my office, but for their own safety we have to avoid meeting."
The detained councillor, Madzokere was a signatory to a trust account in which constituency development funds have been deposited.
Development projects to upgrade schools and clinics in the area are now stalled as a result.
Surprisingly, Madzore himself remains calm. He still lives in his house in the area despite numerous threats that the CIO, army and police wanted to detain or even kill him. Even more surprising, he continues to advocate non-violence in the face of threats and harassment.
"If an election was called at midnight tonight we would win it," the MP says without a hint of doubt. "We're ready, we're on guard. Anyone who loses hope loses life."
Post published in: Politics