Table 2: Violations witnessed by children – 2001 to 2008
2001
Abduction
Assault
Murder
Property
destruction
Rape
Tortured
Total:
Percentage:
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
4
1
0
1
4
0
6
9
0
2
4
0
0
7
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
7
15
0
3
0
2
10
9%
3
0
0
8
7%
7
1
5
28
24%
0
0
2
8
7%
3
1
1
13
11%
0
0
1
1
1%
0
0
4
6
5%
14
2
3
41
36%
Totals
21 (18%)
41 (36%)
1 (1%)
30 (26%)
4 (3%)
18 (16%)
115
The effects of displacement and property destruction should not be under-estimated for the
consequences to children’s mental health: seeing your parents beaten up and the family home
destroyed is not trivial for children.
A Bulawayo business woman Rejoice Sibanda-Ncube was evicted from her farm in
Nyamandlovu after she refused to provide food for ZANU PF supporters camped
at a base adjacent to her farm. The victim and her three children were forcemarched out of their home at midnight by a group of war veterans from Redwood
Farm and accused of refusing to provide them with food, inviting MDC supporters
to the farm and not attending ZANU PF meetings in the area. The war veterans
told her never to set foot on the farm as it now belonged to them. The victim
returned with her gardener the following Sunday to seek permission from the war
veterans to collect some clothes for her and her children but they refused and warned
her that if she returned to the farm they would shoot her. The victim reports that
the war veterans had already begun looting some of her farming equipment.
The case immediately below shows an even more disturbing event, and it is clear that, while
politically motivated rape has been under-reported, even more so has been the under-reporting of
such violations to which children have been unwilling witnesses12.
The female victim reports that she was raped and assaulted by ZANU PF
youths. They went to her home at around 23:00hrs and broke into her daughters‟
bedroom when she refused to come out. She was forced to reveal herself when they
threatened to assault her daughters. They raped her and assaulted her with sticks
in the presence of her daughters. She was assaulted for the role of observer she
played in the March 29 2008 harmonised elections. She then left for Harare
fearing further victimisation.
Together, these findings described in these two tables show a disturbing picture, and
demonstrate that children, as all the preceding discussion has indicated, are not immune from the
consequences of organised violence.
12
Similar cases were reported in an investigation of politically motivated rape in 2010. See RAU (2010),
No Hiding Place. Politically Motivated Rape of Women in Zimbabwe. Report prepared by the Research and
Advocacy Unit (RAU) and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR).
December 2010. HARARE: RESEARCH & ADVOCACY UNIT.
10