The more detailed analysis in the second SPT report [SPT2]85 largely confirmed the findings of SPT1. MDC supporters were 61% of all victims, with members holding leadership positions being 18% of the total. Election observers comprised 6% of the total, with the percentage of persons from whom affiliation was unclear increasing to 31%, but these victims all attributed their ill-treatment to ZANU PF supporters. On the other hand, ZANU PF supporters were only 1% of the total. The most disturbing findings on the victims came from SPT2’s description of them86: 211 of those seeking medical help after either beatings or more often illness owing to displacement were aged less than 3 years – 7%. A further 77 were aged 4 to 10 years old – 3%. 113 were aged 11 to 20 years – 4% 177 victims were aged over 60, and some of these suffered extremely severe injuries including multiple fractures, which are difficult to heal at that age. 80% of the victims were aged between 21 and 60. So, not even children or the elderly were spared, and 10% of those under displaced were under 10 years old. 5.1.1 Gender analysis Few of the studies show the data disaggregated for gender, and hence it is difficult to be precise about the effects for women, although the studies from previous years indicate that a high percentage of the victims are women. SPT2 reports several individual cases in which severe abuse of women is described but provides no breakdown of the gender distribution. However, the report does comment that there are reports that gang rape was widespread in Mashonaland and Manicaland87. SPT1 reports that 16% of the victims were women. Another report suggests that as many as 2,000 cases of rape during the period March to June 200888. The Human Rights Forum reports that 21% of the victims between March and June were female, but has no reports of rape. ZPP does not give a clear indication of the percentage of women for the period March to June 2008, and reports rape and attempted rape as less than 1% of the total violations recorded. Clearly there a huge discrepancies in the estimates of rape in various reports available – from 50 cases to 2,000 – and this makes it difficult to be accurate in this regard about the Presidential runoff period. However, subsequent ZPP reports do allow some better estimates to be made of the proportion of women being affected. When the statistics for July and August 2008 are combined, then female members of the MDC emerge as 10 times more likely to report a human rights violation than female members of ZANU PF. This figure could be much higher if the cases of women with unknown affiliation are included, and it is probable, as the Solidarity Peace Trust points out, that cases of unknown affiliation are very unlikely to be members or supporters of ZANU PF. In the absence of any clear gender analysis, it is thus not possible to make any clear statements about women, and this affects the later analysis of the types of violation experienced by women. It would be crucial that subsequent analyses of this data, should this take place, disaggregate the data according to gender. It also seems crucial that some attempt be made to understand the actual prevalence of rape. 5.2 The perpetrators All reports have similar findings: that the overwhelming majority of the alleged perpetrators are supporters of the ZANU PF party, and that state agents too are reported as perpetrators with high frequency. The Solidarity Peace Trust, in both its reports, indicates that ZANU PF Youth were the most frequent perpetrators identified, and that ZANU PF, as a whole, was the most common perpetrator. With the inclusion of “war veterans”, these groups comprise 83% of all alleged perpetrators. This is wholly in keeping with previous reports. It can also be seen that state agents – ZRP, ZNA, and CIO – are also a significant percentage [18%] of the total perpetrators, but the percentage drops in later months from 27%. As the Solidarity Peace Trust reports [SPT2], this drop seems to have been predicated on the state agents having completed their role in driving the violence and having set in train processes that could continue without their management. This can also be seen in the rankings, where the ZNA drop from third to fourth as the most common perpetrators from April to the end of June 2008. 85 86 87 88 Solidarity Peace Trust (2008), Desperately Seeking Sanity: What Prospects for a New Beginning in Zimbabwe? 29 July 2008. DURBAN: SOLIDARITY PEACE TRUST. See page 33 of SPT2. See Solidarity Peace Trust (2006), Desperately Seeking Sanity: What Prospects for a New Beginning in Zimbabwe? 29 July 2008. DURBAN: SOLIDARITY PEACE TRUST. p35 See reports at www.aids-freeworld.org. Page 31