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Freddie
Matonhodze, "We fear there could be a blood bath"
IRIN
News
May
10, 2010
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=89084
Freddie Matonhodze, an
official of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
in Muzarabani district, in Mashonaland Central Province, a rural
stronghold of the ruling ZANU-PF party, lost his wife and relatives
to political violence. His home has been razed and his livestock
slaughtered, but he refuses to flee.
"I have been an
active member of the MDC since 2002. I am a former ZANU-PF supporter,
but from 2000 [when the fast-track land reform programme was launched]
I did not like the way the party used violence in its [political]
campaigns, and it encouraged us to use violence against the then
opposition supporters.
"In the March 2008
elections, because of violence and intimidation, the MDC candidate
for the parliamentary seat in the harmonised [parliamentary and
presidential] elections pulled out of the race at the last minute.
"I remained as the
campaign manager for MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, and the senate
and council candidates. When President Robert Mugabe was defeated
by Tsvangirai in the first round of voting, I was targeted by the
militia and war veterans under the command of the military.
"When ZANU-PF militia
laid siege to my homestead, I escaped with my wife, Nyadzisayi.
She sustained a broken collar bone and spinal injuries; she died
at the end of 2009 as a result of her injuries.
"The mob
which attacked my homestead is known, and they are war veterans
and traditional leaders, among them, Chief Chagarakasekete.
"I fled
to live in relative safety near Harare [the capital] until the signing
of the Global Political
Agreement [(GPA) signed in September 2008, paving the way for
the formation of a unity government in February 2009] and returned
home to resume my life. I look after an extended family of 15 and
have worked hard to ensure they are catered for.
"When I returned
home, I found that my neighbours were hostile to me, and bragged
that the GPA only applied in Harare and not in rural areas.
"What crushed me
was that they had set my tractor on fire, set my homestead on fire
and, even more cruelly, they set my pigs, which were in an enclosure,
on fire.
"The ZANU-PF militia
slaughtered some of my livestock and consumed it. I lost chickens,
guinea fowls, goats and cattle.
"The violence has
resumed and we have had to appeal to the JOMIC [the Joint Monitoring
and Implementation Committee, which monitors compliance with the
GPA] to come and help bring peace after ZANU-PF supporters set a
building on fire used by MDC supporters.
"JOMIC says it will
visit the area one of these days, but we fear that there could be
a bloodbath if nothing is done soon."
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