7. Assumption of impunity Particularly in the second week of May, the violence has shifted qualitatively. Four people were confirmed beaten to death in one area of Shamva district in the first week of May, and another six were beaten to death in Chiweshe on the same day. 54 The Chiweshe incident left five others fighting for their lives in Harare hospitals. Both Shamva and Chiweshe are in Mashonaland Central. Descriptions of these ruthless killings and mass beatings, which took place in public settings with many people forced to witness the sadistic attacks, are clearly reminiscent of the 5 Brigade killings in Matabeleland in the 1980s. 55 Further consequences of the Mashonaland Central violence in the first week of May comes from ZADHR’s descriptions of patients: … admitted was a 3yr old boy with trauma to his R eye from being struck with a rock and a 78 year old man with a fractured lower leg from blunt trauma. One young breast-feeding mother had bilateral fractures of her hands and was unable to hold her baby to feed her. Among the other patients, 20 had defensive, forearm or hand fractures, 5 had leg fractures and 1 fractured ribs. Fourteen patients had severe injuries to the buttocks from blunt trauma which required surgery for the removal of necrotic (dead) tissue. The perpetrators in all cases were alleged by the victims to be war veterans and ZANU PF supporters. Similar patterns of injuries are being reported from other hospitals. Any group of perpetrators who organises such public massacres and beatings with so many eye witnesses and such gross mutilation of victims, is acting on the assumption of total impunity. It is clear that ZANU PF is acting with the certainty that they will “win” any run off. They are assured within themselves that there will be no new government in the next few weeks or months that will hold them accountable for these unspeakable acts, otherwise they would – surely - act a little more circumspectly. The world needs to take note of this. 8. Reaction of police to events Officially the police have condemned all political violence and have declared “zero tolerance” for it, but the reality on the ground is that the police are either powerless to prevent what is happening or complicit in events. Government spokespersons have repeatedly claimed that they have not received reports of violence or of deaths from the police. However, there is evidence that the police themselves are being intimidated. ZADHR has eyewitness statements that on the 24th of April, at Mayo Police Station in Headlands District, a high-ranking police officer from Harare physically assaulted the Member in Charge, accusing him of being sympathetic to the opposition. The police post had been taking statements from victims and referring them for medical treatment. The Member in Charge was summarily transferred out of the district. 56 Police are under instructions not to arrest perpetrators, even when they file cases and victims know their assailants as they often do. This pattern of behaviour is consistent with the master plan for the run off drawn up in April and communicated across the nation to police at ward level. 57 As the 14 May statement from ZESN indicates, support from the police is generally limited at this time. They are clearly not the ones in charge of law(lessness) and (dis)order 54 There have been claims of up to 11 beaten to death in the Chiweshe incident – see interview ending this report, but the authors have confirmed six of these deaths so far. However, it is very hard to enter the vicinity and gather adequate information at this time, so this number could well grow. 55 While the Gukurahundi massacres resulted in the deaths of between 10,000 and 20,000 and the current violence is on a much smaller scale, the difference is of scale not type. And the intention is clearly the same – to shatter a political opposition. 56 Ibid. 57 Ref has been made to this document in the preceding section of this report, and is appended. 27