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The
Legal Monitor - Issue 33
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
February 22, 2010
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ZANU
PF thugs evicted
A ZANU PF supporter
who forcibly occupied a house belonging to a Mbare resident during
the run up to the sham 27 June 2008 presidential election has been
forced to vacate the premises by a Harare court. The ruling by Harare
Magistrate Priscilla Chigumba last week likely sets the stage for
more claims against the party's hardliners who looted several properties
from defenceless Zimbabweans at the height of the political violence
that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says left more than
200 of its supporters dead. Lovemore Pfori and a group of ZANU PF
thugs led by Earnest Rutsvaru and Chamunorwa Mavhiri evicted Shilla
Musimbirachako from her Matapi Flat in Mbare where she had resided
since August 2001, court papers show. They looted her belongings,
which they later sold.
Musimbirachako, who has
been living in Chitungwiza after her eviction, is one of many Mbare
residents and some MDC supporters countrywide who were evicted from
their homes and had their property illegally seized as punishment
for supporting the MDC. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai handed President
Robert Mugabe his first electoral defeat in the March 2008 presidential
election but failed to garner enough votes to avoid a run-off. Tsvangirai
pulled out of the planned re-run poll citing gross human rights
abuses and political violence against members of his MDC party.
"Various members of the group (then) ordered me out of the
flat, stating that it belonged to ZANU PF and that as an MDC supporter,
I was to leave the property. The invading group immediately started
taking and wantonly looting my belongings as I attempted to hold
on to what I could," said Musimbirachako in court papers.
"Earnest
Rutsvaru then proceeded to assault me all over the body together
with my child and my housemaid," she added. Musimbirachako
reported the matter at Matapi police station, but the officers refused
to pursue the complaint. "Much to my surprise, the Member in
Charge of Matapi Police Station simply asked me, rhetorically, whether
I did not know that there was a ruling party. As such, no docket
was opened and no assistance was offered by the Zimbabwe Republic
Police Officers at Matapi Police Station," Musimbirachako says
in the court papers. But a Harare Magistrate last week ordered Pfori
to vacate Musimbirachako's flat within 24 hours of the delivery
of the order after Musimbirachako filed for eviction. "First
Respondent (Pfori) and all those acting through him are ordered
to vacate Block 9A13, Matapi
Flats, Mbare with immediate effect, that is to say, within 24 hours
of the delivery of this order, all their wares and other persons
so occupying the property must have been ejected from the property
and all locks used at the property must have been surrendered to
the applicant," Magistrate Chigumba said.
Musimbirachako
is just one of several Mbare residents who lost their properties
after ZANU PF supporters went on the rampage in the suburb and forced
occupants to leave their homes and seek alternative accommodation.
Besides the Mbare residents several villagers in the rural areas
were forced to surrender their livestock, grain and other belongings
to some ZANU PF supporters. However, the villagers have teamed up
to demand and repossess their belongings.
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