Back to Index

Protect the innocent not murderers, Minister Mutasa
Heal Zimbabwe Trust
August 04, 2011

"My 10 year old son was brutally killed for begging the perpetrators to stop beating me after they assaulted me for close to two hours in front of my six children, they dragged Kudzai and started beating him all over the body, they were close to 150 people who had come looking for my husband . . . . . . " narrates a tearful Mrs Shungu during the memorial service of her son who was viciously beaten to death by ZANU PF supporters on 01 July 2008.

Kudzai Shungu born on 22 April 1998 and died on June 01 2008 is one of the many children who were victimized during the 2008 political violence on the basis that the perpetrators were looking for their parents and the children were beaten as revenge for failing to locate the parents. According to Unicef, children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education, health care and criminal laws appropriate for the age and development of the child. Interpretations of children's rights range from allowing children the capacity for autonomous action to the enforcement of children being physically, mentally and emotionally free from abuse. "A child is any human being below the age of eighteen years, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier."

There are two other cases of children who were killed one in Gutu aged four years who was thrown to the wall by the perpetrators when he started screaming when they were brutally assaulting his parents and he died instantly and another one in Uzumba, a two year old girl who was burnt to death in her parents' hut after the parents escaped the wrath of the perpetrators who were baying for their blood leaving her behind.

It is not only cruel, but inhuman, illegal and degrading to punish children for the "sins" of their parents. The trauma that these children have to bear after the abuse is totally unbearable and no organization or people have taken the initiative to offer counseling or any other assistance to these traumatized children. Children suffer in two folds, first as direct victims where they are physically assaulted and indirectly where they lose breadwinners and some of them have to drop out of school as there will be no one to raise the fees for them. It is painful that these children had to have their lives cut short at a very tender age with a possibility of a bright future lying ahead of them. For Kudzai Shungu, he was just starting grade 1 with a possible bright future and great expectations on him from his family but the 2008 violence destroyed it all.

Mrs Shungu tearfully narrated to Heal Zimbabwe how her family was victimized during one of the memorial services that were held in Bikita, Zaka and Morgenster, Masvingo from 28 to 31 July 2011 where ten people were killed including her son during the 2008 political violence period:

Mrs Shungu's ordeal

It was on 28 June 2008 around 5pm when close to 150 ZANU PF supporters led by Mai Komichi, Tafa Mahachi and Leonard Komichi came looking for my husband whom they wanted to surrender his political affiliation. They beat me up for close to two hours that is when Kudzai then ten years old started crying begging them to leave me as they were going to kill me. That is when they asked him if he wanted to replace me and that is when they started beating him all over the body, the beatings continued for close to 30 minutes that is when I passed out. I woke up after three hours and they were gone but my son was laying head down bleeding profusely. I took him to Mutikizizi Clinic where they referred us to Silveira Hospital citing lack of medication. I failed to take him to the hospital as I did not have busfare so I gave him two painkillers I got from the clinic. My husband returned from fishing around 9pm and before I could even finish narrating the ordeal to him the perpetrators returned baying for my husband's blood and were now close to 200 many of them from our area. They started looting clothes, food and property demanding that my husband denounce his party (MDC). They beat him for close to an hour using sticks, boots and sjamboks. They took him to their base and along the way they made him swim in Nyamatumha river to remove the blood that was oozing out of his body as a result of the beatings, after swimming for less than 5 minutes, he passed out and they brought him home in a wheel barrow thinking he was dead but he woke up before they left. In finding out that he was still alive they dragged him with them and the beatings started again only to return him around 4am. We spent the next two days locked up in our hut as my husband was against the idea of running away leaving our homestead unattended, on the third day, Kudzai succumbed to the injuries and passed away on 1 July 2008 around 3pm. We failed to openly mourn our son as they continued coming back for a week demanding things at first it was a goat, then next a chicken then later on a cow as a fine for supporting MDC. In all these visits my husband was scolded and beaten up for refusing to "surrender". As a result of the beatings my husband suffered a fractured back. We reported the case to the police who said they will make follow up investigations but to date no one has been arrested regardless that we gave them some of the names of the perpetrators whom we managed to positively identify . . . Mrs Shungu unanswered question to the perpetrators is why did they kill her son who did not even know what politics is nor had he reached the age majority of 18 where he could vote. These questions remain unanswered three years after the gruesome ordeal.

Kudzai Shungu's courage to save his mother is the greatest lesson we learn. May his soul rest in Peace. Child murderers should face the full wrath of the law.

Visit the Heal Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP