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Zanu PF militia on rampage, burn houses
Caiphas Chimhete, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
April 12, 2008

View this story on The Standard website

War veterans and Zanu PF militia last week burnt down more than 30 farm workers' huts in Mashonaland Central, accusing them of voting against President Robert Mugabe in last month's elections.

The workers said the attackers raided Silver Stream Farm in Centenary on Tuesday and Wednesday under cover of darkness, torching huts, beating up the occupants and looting property.

The workers said they were accused of voting for the MDC after a vote count at Silver Stream primary school showed "a slight difference" between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The attackers demanded the workers join them in farm invasions, which they refused to do.

The workers said the attackers were from two nearby farms, Sharon and Sandlands.

Among the most seriously injured workers was Justin Fungai, hospitalised at St Albert's Mission Hospital.

Selina Njara (26), mother of two, said for three days they slept in a nearby mountain fearing the attackers would return to kill them. "We woke up when our neighbour's house was on fire. They were coming to ours when we fled into the mountains. Watching from afar, we saw them taking our property, before setting the huts on fire," she said.

The family lost all their clothes, stuffed into travelling bags, blankets, a radio and even maize-meal. "I don't know where to start," she said.

As Njara told her ordeal, her six-year-old son, Kudzai Kavhumbura, foraged in the rubble, trying to salvage remains of his school books. All he could recover was a half-burnt English textbook.

"I hope my father will be able to replace the books. I want to go back to school when we open," Kudzai said.

He is in first grade, at Silver Stream primary school, across the stream.

After the attack about 18 families now shelter temporarily in tobacco barns, exposed to the cold and diseases.

Shelter is being provided by farm owner Joseph Chakwara, who played down the crisis, saying it had "nothing to with politics".

"It all started at a beer drink when two people fought. Others from different farms took sides," said Chakwara, who volunteered information of his Zanu PF membership.

He claimed he obtained the Mazda pick-up truck he was driving and a tractor from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe because of his Zanu PF affiliation.

Gaurani Mutape (24), gave a different account of how the trouble started. As the attackers flailed them, they shouted: "You must follow the white farmers out of this country because you voted for the MDC!" Gaurani and his brother, Thomas (27), both work at the farm. They said the attackers looted everything: clothes, radios, blankets, buckets. Thomas said: "Some even killed and took away chickens, when people fled."

The farm workers blamed the police for failing to take action before the situation deteriorated. They said when they reported the first attack on Tuesday, the police said they did not have transport and told them to go back to "defend ourselves".

"When more huts were burnt on Thursday night all men from here walked to Centenary police station to complain," said another worker who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation. "But while we were there, the attackers returned, forcing our children and wives into the mountains."

It was only when anti-riot police arrived that the attackers fled to their homes and normalcy returned.

Mashonaland Central police spokesperson assistant inspector Michael Munyikwa, who met The Standard news crew at the troubled farm, said he could not comment as he was still gathering facts about the incident.

But farm workers said only a few of the attackers had been arrested. They feared those left behind would pounce on them again.

There were reports of violence in Mudzi West where militia reportedly beat up Batsirai Kapikinyu and Cephas Nyarugwe in Nyamudo village near Kawere School in Mashonaland East.

According to Oswel Dziike, a candidate for the MDC in the House of Assembly elections, the two were left with broken arms and legs. He said a number of opposition supporters had fled the area as a result of the violence.

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