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Political murder, barely 24 hours after UN envoy's departure
Heal Zimbabwe Trust
May 29, 2012

Six people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Cephas Magura, Chairperson for ward 1 Mudzi North. The deceased aged 58 was severely assaulted at Chimukoko Business Centre on Saturday 26 May 2012 at around 12pm. He was hit by a stone on the head and fell on the ground and was severely assaulted by ZANU PF youth who had come to disrupt the rally. The rally was disrupted just 30 minutes after it started.

It is reported that close to one hundred MDC supporters had gathered at Chimukoko Business centre for a rally which was sanctioned by the police. Heal Zimbabwe applaud the police for arresting the six perpetrators but questions emerge on why the police failed to calm the situation at a rally that was sanctioned. A sanctioned rally is supposed to have members of the police to monitor and make sure the rally is peaceful, it was the police's duty to protect the victim from the hooligans. It is the responsibility of the police to protect people from violence regardless of their political affiliation. The MDC by informing the police means they wanted a peaceful rally with no disruptions.

Mr. Chikuna who was part of those who attended the rally narrated that ZANU-PF supporters came and started singing at the same venue they were having their rally. He states that the violent youth started singing their party songs and started attacking the people who were at the rally. The MDC supporters responded by fleeing the venue but the youth pursued them and in the process hit Mr. Mugura with a stone on the head and he died on the spot. Six other MDC supporters were assaulted and are still receiving treatment at a hospital in Harare.

The post mortem results indicate that the late Mr. Mugura was hit on the head with a blunt object and assaulted all over his body. Mourners are gathered at Dotso Village, Goronga, Mudzi. The deceased will be laid to rest on Saturday, 2 June 2012.

Heal Zimbabwe castigates the upsurge of political violence and is surprised by utterances from political leaders during the visit by the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Ms Pillay that cases of political violence have stabilized in Zimbabwe when almost every day there are reports from various parts of the country of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders. Eight people were killed in Mudzi alone in the 2008 political violence. Levels of political polarization are alarming in the country. JOMIC and the Organ on National Healing have a daunting task ahead of the oncoming elections. The scheduled SADC summit should address these issues. We call upon political activists to walk the talk of peace as a fulfillment of the Global Political Agreement. We assert and continue to emphasise that the state has to play its role in prosecuting past perpetrators of political violence and deal effectively with current cases of impunity.

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