Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Report — Of Stuffed ballots and Empty Stomachs support of local councillors. The constituency was won by ZANU(PF)’s Reuben Marumahoko in the elections. 2. In Mount Darwin North, several MDC election agents had to be relocated in April after ZANU(PF) supporters, bent on violence, were heard to be searching for them. Headman Gandari was harassed at a meeting on April 23 2005 at Kumundati Village by ruling party supporters wanting to know why there were so many MDC activists in his area. The cases in Mt. Darwin North have been reported to the police at Karanda Police Station, but no arrests have been made.92 3. In April 2005, it was reported that dozens of opposition supporters from Chipinge town fled their homes in fear of their lives as war veterans and ruling ZANU(PF) militants intensified retribution against opposition supporters. Some of the families said they had fled after receiving death threats from ZANU(PF) militants. It was also alleged that some members of the police in Chipinge were actively assisting the ruling party militants in persecuting people suspected of having voted for the MDC. MDC provincial vice-chairman, Prosper Mutseyami, said ZANU(PF) leaders were moving around Chipinge, a stronghold of the opposition party, urging their militant supporters to weed out opposition sympathisers. He said the activities of the local ZANU(PF) in Chipinge had been brought to the attention of the police who had not taken any preventative steps or other action. Mutseyami said: “In rural Chipinge, traditional leaders, ZANU(PF) supporters and the police are actively involved in the evictions. In Chipinge urban, ZANU(PF) leaders urged militia groups to weed out MDC sympathizers”. A senior clergyman in Mutare, whose church has offered sanctuary to displaced MDC supporters in the city, also said families had told him of widespread victimisation of opposition supporters in the small town. “We are helping about 12 families from Chipinge who fled their homes after the elections. But we are doing it clandestinely because we too will be targeted for helping these people”, said the church pastor, insisting that his name and that of his church not be mentioned for fear of reprisals.93 4. In mid-May 2005 ZANU(PF) youths allegedly besieged two schools in Chihota, Marondera District, and expelled 9 teachers from the area, accusing them of backing the MDC. Eight of the teachers who fled from the schools said they would not return to the schools as their lives were in danger. The Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture’s Mashonaland East provincial education director, Vinah Kimbini, confirmed that the teachers had been ordered 92 The Zimbabwean 10 April 2005. 93 Zim Online 30 April 2005. 37