6
Overall, it is evident that disorders due to OVT are a very significant proportion of psychological
morbidity. Nearly one adult in ten was suffering a clinically significant psychological disorder due
to OVT, and nearly a third of all psychological morbidity was due to OVT. Here it should be borne
in mind that this was almost three decades after the original violence, and hence the long-term
consequences of OVT cannot be underestimated.
As can be seen from Table 1 below, the survivors from Mount Darwin in Mashonaland Central
reported a high frequency of many different types of torture.
Table 1.
Frequency of torture types in Mount Darwin
survivors (Amani.1998)
TYPE
Physical torture
Deprivation
Impact torture:
Sensory over stimulation
Psychological abuse
Psychological torture:
Witness torture
Witness executions
Witness total:
Total Torture:
Frequency[mean; s.dev]
2.73[1.66]
2.22[1.88]
4.99[2.93]
0.83[1.28]
2.36[1.95]
3.19[2.64]
2.18[1.99]
0.65[0.99]
2.83[2.62]
8.53[5.55]
Table 2 shows the frequency of the various types of physical abuse reported by the Mount Darwin
group. This has much in common with the OVT groups. Beatings are the most common abuse
reported, as is commonly found in all studies of torture survivors, and there are a number of other
forms that are reported comparatively frequently - exposure, suspension, asphyxiation and
electrical shock.
Table 2.
Frequency of physical abuse of Mount Darwin
survivors (Amani1998).
Beating
Severe beating
Exposure
Suspension
Unusual posture
Asphyxiation
Burning
Electrical shock
Rape
Other
169[51%]
192[57%]
42[13%]
35[11%]
28[9%]
49[15%]
24[7%]
56[17%]
16[5%]
22[6%]
Rape is always reported at a low frequency, which cannot be taken as indicative that rape was
infrequent for several reasons. the most important of these is the very strong reluctance by
women to report rape since this can have decidedly detrimental effects on their marital
relationship. For example, at least two of the women who reported rape who concerned that their
families might learn of their experience, and their concern was that their husbands might divorce
them if they suspected that any of the children born during that time might have been products of
the rape. Another reason lies in concerns over infertility, and the perception by husbands and
families that the infertility might have been caused by the rape.
AMANI TRUST: Beating your opposition. Torture during the 2002 Presidential campaign in Zimbabwe.