8 Time for accountability The Zimbabwean police were aware of such camps but took no effective steps to close them. Amnesty International delegates saw one such camp in Sunningdale, Harare which was located less than 300 metres from a police station. In the few cases when police went to rescue MDC activists, no arrests were made. However, some victims told Amnesty International that many junior police officers appeared to be keen to act against perpetrators but reported being restrained by superior orders not to intervene in cases involving “war veterans” and the security forces. ZANU-PF denials One of the strategies employed by ZANU-PF and the government to avoid taking responsibility for human rights violations is that of consistently denying the facts. They have either denied that violations have occurred, or sought to shift the blame to the victims or external forces. For example, in response to allegations of statesponsored violence against ZANU-PF opponents, the party blamed the violence on the MDC and “former Rhodesian security elements” who they accused of fomenting “political violence within the ranks of the MDC itself and between it and ZANU-PF.”16 Since 2000 the ZANU-PF government has ignored evidence of human rights violations, thereby exempting perpetrators from any form of accountability. Consequently, suspected perpetrators of serious human rights violations continue to operate with a sense of impunity, buoyed by the government’s repeated and deliberate failure to bring to justice those who commit serious human rights violations. Political parties’ involvement On 6 August 2008, the MDC and ZANU-PF issued a joint statement acknowledging that some of the violence after the 29 March election was attributable to the two parties. However, from the evidence gathered by Amnesty International, the bulk of the violence was state-sponsored and carried out by security forces, ZANU-PF supporters and “war veterans”. Human rights defenders reported inter-party retaliatory attacks in Mayo resettlement area in Manicaland province, Bikita and Zaka in Masvingo province. Amnesty International equally calls for these human rights abuses to be investigated and those suspected to have been involved should be brought to justice. Case studies Pregnant woman assaulted in Gutu Clara is a 32-year-old woman from Gutu who was assaulted for being an MDC activist. At the time of her assault she was five months pregnant. “On 16 June, ZANU-PF called for a political meeting at Mupandawana growth point [rural business centre]. I didn’t go to that meeting. At night a group of about 200 ZANU-PF supporters came to my home and demanded to see me and [my sister]. Amnesty International AI Index: AFR 46/028/2008