Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Report — Of Stuffed ballots and Empty Stomachs Murder 0 0 1 2 3 31 49 128 113 321 Property related 0 0 0 18 18 Rape 0 0 0 4 4 School closure 0 0 0 0 0 Torture 1 5 1 16 23 Unlawful arrest 8 63 86 16 173 Unlawful detention 8 63 57 15 143 Political discrimination/ victimisation/ intimation In mid-May the police, supported by the army, embarked on the now notorious “Operation Murambatsvina”81 campaign to “clean up” urban centres by demolishing shacks and structures that housed large numbers of poor people and stalls and markets of traders within the informal sector. Many view this action against the urban poor as yet another reprisal operation to punish the urban population for voting for the opposition. In this campaign a large people have been arrested and it is estimated that over 500 000 have been displaced.82 Alleged murders There are several reports of murders, which appear to fall within the reprisal campaign. 1. The April report of the NGO Forum gives details of a report made to it about the murder of an MDC activist in Hurungwe East on 28 April 2005. The victim had been arrested on allegations that he had burnt houses belonging to ZANU(PF) supporters. He was detained at a police station for a few days and then released. On 27 April 2005 he was on his way to Kariba when he was allegedly abducted at a bus stop by a group of war veterans and ZANU(PF) youths who took him to a house. He was allegedly assaulted overnight and then the following morning he was reportedly murdered using sticks. A report was made to Karoi Police Station. Two men were arrested in connection with the murder and these men are now out on bail. 2. At the beginning of May an opposition supporter was abducted and murdered in Hurungwe East Constituency during a retribution campaign against the opposition. A few days before his death, MDC member Moffat Ibrahim was first summoned to attend a village court hearing by the headman in Ward Six of Hurungwe district. Headman Mupanedengu, 81 A ChiShona word meaning “drive out the trash” which has been loosely translated by government as “Operation Restore Order”. 82 The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has published a separate report on this operation. The number of people displaced is hard to estimate and is constantly increasing as the “operation” is ongoing. 30