The male victim, a headmaster at a Primary School in Nyanga South Constituency, reports that he was abducted and assaulted together with his wife by suspected ZANU PF supporters. Four men came to his home at the school where he works accusing him of selling computers that had been donated to the school by the President. Among the four men were one Colonel Masamore and his driver. They handcuffed him and slapped him on the face. His wife and children tried to assist him but one of the four men fired a shot into the air, scaring them off. The victim was forced into a Mitsubishi twin cab truck without number plates. His wife also forced herself into the truck despite three warning shots fired to deter her from doing so. They were driven into a thick pine forest about 1,5km away. When the assailants eventually stopped they switched off the headlights and assaulted the victim and his wife with a whip. During the assault the assailants were chanting ZANU PF slogans. The assailants then stripped the victim and his wife naked and further assaulted them. The victim was told to teach the teachers and students at his school ZANU PF slogans. He was also accused of encouraging the teachers at his school to vote for MDC. The victim and his wife were warned not to report the abduction and assault or else they would face harsher consequences. After the assailants had left, the victim’s wife assisted him to the nearest timber compound where they got clothes and transport to a hospital. After being discharged from hospital both the victim and his wife moved to Harare fearing that the assailants would return. A second difference lies in the identified involvement of ZANU PF party officials. The 2003 analysis mentioned above reported that MPs, and candidates from ZANU PF, were frequently mentioned in reports given to the Human Rights Forum. As this report indicated, MPs and government officials comprised 6% of all the named perpetrators, and 38 MPs and government officials were mentioned 73 times in reports [see Table 20 above]. Whilst SPT2 makes mention of the involvement of MPs and government officials, the frequency is not given. Thus, while there seems to be a shift in the types of perpetrators, the overall tactics do not seem to have changed much since the previous elections in 2000 and 2002. The election in 2005 is somewhat different in tactics, and definitely was not as violent as these other three elections91. The tactics in 2008 emphasised the use of “bases”, militia groups led by “war veterans”, the co-operation of the ZRP – both in violence and in covering up the violence – and the near-public presence of the ZNA. 5.2.1 Gender analysis Previous reports on elections since 2000 (as well as other human rights reports of other events) have made mention of the involvement of women as perpetrators of gross human rights violations and torture. It is generally unusual in the human rights literature for women to be so involved. One of the first reports to make mention of the involvement of women in torture was given in 2000, where a victim reported that he was abducted, and initially beaten by 5 women92. There were also a number of reports, mostly in the rural areas, where women, accompanying militia gangs, were involved in burning houses, destroying and stealing property, and severe assaults on MDC supporters. The circumstances in which these women were involved could very plausibly be described as torture, conforming in all aspect to the CAT definition. Neither the Solidarity Peace Trust reports nor those of the Forum in 2008 make mention of the role of women in perpetrating gross human rights violations. The Zimbabwe Peace Project does provide such an analysis, and the frequency with which women were alleged to be perpetrators is noteworthy. According the ZPP report for July 2008, female members of ZANU PF were identified in 267 cases, as opposed to 6 cases in which female members of the MDC were alleged to be perpetrators. Thus, while female ZANU PF supporters are 10 times less likely to be a victim, they are over 40 times more likely to have been a perpetrator! 5.3 Types of torture There have been several reports prior to 2008 detailing the use of torture in Zimbabwe. The most detailed of these dealt with the torture of the MDC leadership and other civic leaders in 200793. 91 92 93 See NCA, The 2005 Parliamentary Election. Flawed, Unfree and Unfair! April 2005, NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY; Reeler, A.P., & Chitsike, K.C (2005), Trick or Treat? The effects of the pre-election climate on the poll in the 2005 Zimbabwe Parliamentary Elections. June 2005. PRETORIA: IDASA. See Cases D & I, IRCT (2000), Organised Violence and Torture in Zimbabwe, 6th June 2000, Copenhagen and Harare, COPENHAGEN & HARARE: IRCT & AMANI TRUST. See OSISA (2007), “We have degrees in violence”. A Report on Torture and Human Rights Abuses in Zimbabwe. A Report by The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, The Open Society Institute, & The Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture. December 2007. JOHANNESBURG: OPEN SOCIETY FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA. Page 33