violence, amongst other things, in the reasons for their conclusions. The Botswana government
stated unequivocally that it would recognise Robert Mugabe as President.
Two other reports also suggested that the violence continued after the Presidential Run-off, and
certainly indicated that the scale of the violence up to the time of signing the MoU was considerable.
Based on 3,320 interviews, the Solidarity Peace Trust reported that there was a steady increase in the
number of cases from April through to June, with June showing the highest number of cases, and a
total of 107 murders reported, mostly associated with abductions and torture. 5 The report also
showed clearly the focused nature of the violence, with members of the MDC the overwhelming
victims [61%], and the perpetrators being massively ZANU PF Youth, ZANU PF supporters, and “war
veterans”. However, state agents – police and army – were mentioned in a distressingly large number
of cases. The second report, from the Zimbabwe Peace Project [ZPP], indicated a total of 16,400
cases since January 2008, with 15,122 falling since March 2008.6 ZPP reported 157 murders since
January 2008, with 124 of these occurring in the months of May [47] and June [77]. A subsequent
report from the ZPP indicated that the overall figure for 2008 had risen to 20,143 by the end of
August.7
Figure 1
Monthly totals, violation totals & Average monthly totals of human rights violations.
[Source: Human Rights Forum, Monthly Political Violence Reports,
Abductions
arrest &
detention
Assault
attempted
murder
death threats
disappearance
displacement
Freedoms
Murder
Political
discrimination
property
violation
Rape
school closure
Torture
Total
Monthly
average:
2001
116
2002
223
2003
52
2004
62
2005
18
2006
11
2007
19
2008
117
Totals
670
0
274
86
627
388
389
401
1286
530
2611
486
2766
865
430
1723
9053
4479
0
0
0
0
12
34
2
12
28
11
39
61
10
80
4
208
809
10
10
35
0
189
760
3
1
9
0
609
1036
4
3
7
0
55
1866
2
0
7
0
0
3500
3
8
47
0
627
2161
107
34
197
32
1699
10183
224
194
388
450
514
476
288
980
2379
5669
356
0
0
903
2285
807
7
45
1172
3155
153
6
1
497
3295
132
3
0
389
2887
61
4
0
136
4170
55
1
0
366
5751
16
0
0
603
8759
381
6
26
699
8711
1961
27
72
4765
39013
380.8
262.9
274.6
240.6
347.5
479.3
729.9
1088.9
618
5
See Solidarity Peace Trust (2008), Desperately Seeking Sanity: What Prospects for a New Beginning in Zimbabwe? 29 July
2008. DURBAN: SOLIDARITY PEACE TRUST.
6
See ZPP (2008), Run up to 27 June 2008 Presidential Run Off Election. July 25, 2008. HARARE: ZIMBABWE PEACE PROJECT.
See ZPP (2008), September Report on Politically-Motivated Human Rights and Food-Related Violations. HARARE: ZIMBABWE
PEACE PROJECT.
7