Eye witness account of the massacre at Chaona, Mazowe North: 5 am on 5th May 2008 ….The place is just bloody, because they took the people from the houses. They dragged them in the middle of the night, they took them into the bush where they wanted everyone to see. It was like a lesson to those who were still participating [in the MDC], that if you participate, this is your fate. Four of them died on the spot, among them is a business man and..... We have Alex Chiriseri, we have Tapiwa Beta, we have Joseph Madzuramende. Those guys died on the spot. The other guys succumbed to the injuries when they were ferried to the hospital, but these died on the spot. Their bodies were carried by the police to Concession Government hospital for the post mortem. They were conducted yesterday. Yes. Do you know who is responsible? Its retired Major Cairo Mhandu, the MP elect for Mazowe North and Raradza the MP who was not elected for Muzarabani South. They are the ones who are coordinating, they were actually physically beating the deceased persons. They were conducting the breaking into the houses, dragging the victims together with their wives and children. After beating up the deceased, they also beat up their wives, they also beat up all the elderly women to such an extent that the women need grafting on their bottomside because of the barbed wire they were using, they need skin grafting. So, it’s a very terrible scene, it’s a catastrophe. The whole community has been traumatized to the extent that some folks are not willing to talk, they have been traumatized. And we feel that with the small gesture we are doing as a party move in and bury the dead probably we will at least keep ourselves in contact with the grassroots, but it’s a very sad situation… We are actually going to evacuate some of the injured today. After we take the bodies out, we are going to bring in some of the elderly and the injured for treatment. They are still there. It’s a very traumatized community. Their crime - on the 29th March election, at that polling station called Chaona, there were about 80 votes for the MDC and 15 votes for ZANU PF. So that is the offence they committed. This is the price they are paying. And that is what Retired Major Mhandu was saying. ‘You will have to learn’. Not only were the victims killed, their parents were also beaten, their wives were also beaten, their children were also beaten, so it was a very frightening operation. The community is still traumatized. It’s very sad. For the operation which was done at Chaona, we lost many people (six confirmed). We also have unconfirmed reports of teachers killed at a school called Kuteka, 3 teachers, but I am yet to confirm. We have several huts burnt from yesterday and this morning at what we call Chinehasha. They are burning out huts and that is in Mazowe North but for the operation that was done on Monday, we have confirmed 6 bodies. We have generally advised teachers if they feel their life is threatened, they should withdraw from the area. And as a result we have 5 schools that are not functioning. They are virtually closed because the teachers have all abandoned those places, that is in Mazowe North. Ah, practically its difficult, it’s next to impossible but we have people who are determined, even the injured with their legs broken, with their hands broken, they want to see the end of this regime. They want to go through the exercise. They sustained broken legs, broken backbones and crushed skulls. They were also tying a wire around your private parts and brick and made sure that they will drop the brick while you are standing to virtually castrate you. It was just bad. And brutal. It’s disgusting. The whole community is traumatized. 48