The prima facie evidence from these reports indicates that shootings, dragnet searches, police and army brutality, brutality in detention and humiliating and degrading treatment took place. It would appear that these took place on a large scale, and the presumption is that the principle of minimum force was exceeded. It is now for the State to rebut this presumption by recourse to proper investigation rather than mere assertion that violence was minimum. 6. Human Rights Violations and Physchosocial Consequences for Survivors during the Food Riots This section deals with the cases that were referred to members of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, and are based on detailed interviews with all the clients. This section reports only on those persons who have been assisted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, and thus represents the most accurate detail about the events and the effects of the Food Riots. As will be seen, the data from these people corroborates all the information gathered from the interviews in Mabvuku, and sheds considerable doubt upon the claims that there were no human rights violations perpetrated during the disturbances. Furthermore, most of the persons reported upon in this section have instituted claims for damages against either the ZNA or the ZRP or both. All persons had lengthy interviews with health workers and legal practitioners. All clients completed the following instruments or schedules during their assessments: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Human Rights Reporting Form. Demographic Information Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-8) Trauma Questionnaire History of Violence Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) Additionally, medical reports were obtained from medical practitioners and physiotherapists where the clients had seen these personnel. Where possible, witnesses were interviewed and affidavits obtained from them. All this data was compiled on to a database, and the following results are derived from the database. All the cases described above were comprehensively assessed as part of their claims for damages. As indicated in the previous section, comprehensive assessments were completed on all the persons seen. The results can thus be compared with other research carried out on survivors of organised violence and torture (OVT), but it should be pointed out that most previous research has dealt with a chronic rather than acute cases. Detailing the psychosocial consequences is important when it is considered that the only other official report on the Food Riots, that issued by the ZRP General Headquarters, makes no mention of human rights abuses or even the scale of injuries suffered. It is also important to stress that the cases reported below are only indicative of the kinds of injuries and disorders suffered by survivors, and there is no data to indicate the scale. It would be necessary to carry out a study of clinic records and hospital outpatient records to get a clearer picture of the suffering experienced by ordinary citizens on Zimbabwe. Such a study would be able to test the assertion made by the ZRP that the principle of “minimum force” was observed. The victims assisted by the Human Rights Forum are drawn from a wide number of the areas affected during the Food Riots, but, as can be seen from Table 6 below, the breakdown is reflective of the areas in which human rights violations were reported or the violence was reportedly high. The largest number came from Mabvuku and Tafara. Table 6 Areas from which Riots victims were drawn