5. The Food Riots — Case study in Mabvuku Since the press reports were confused and it was difficult to verify events, especially in respect of human rights violations, it was decided to undertake a case study of one area involved in the Food Riots. Mabvuku was chosen because of the frequency with which it had been mentioned in the press reports. To re-cap what is known about Mabvuku it should be noted that persons from Mabvuku comprised nearly 20% of the arrests seen at the Harare Magistrate’s Court, and the suburb had one of the highest percentages (20%) of the persons convicted. There were allegations by Mrs Margaret Dongo in the House of Parliament that the rioting in Mabvuku was precipitated by members of the ruling parties Women’s League, and allegations of brutality by the uniformed services in Mabvuku were also made in the House by Mrs Pamela Tungamirai. Since Mabvuku seemed to offer a good example for a case study, it was decided to test the data from the newspaper reports and the courts against interviews in the community. Methods A key informant approach was used, taking the contacts from a person who lived in Mabvuku and who knew the area well. The interviewer approached various people known to the key informant and asked the person whether they were willing to be interviewed about the events around the Food Riots. If the person agreed, an appointment was made to conduct the interview. A standardised interview format was used for the interviews, which took the person through the week of the Food Riots, day by day, as well as asking for any other comments or observations that the interviewee wished to make. All interviews were taped and notes were made at the same time. All persons interviewed were read a pro forma explanation about the purpose of the interview, given a guarantee of confidentiality, and asked to sign an acknowledgement that this procedure had been followed. Copies of all instruments used are provided as an Appendix (see Appendix 3). This procedure generated 12 interviews in all, although a total of 35 persons were approached. Most persons declined to be interviewed, with the major reason being given as fear of getting into trouble with the authorities. This was interesting in itself, and suggests that one of the long term effects of the violence was the creation of a climate of fear, and specifically fear of the police and the army. The data from the interviews was then compiled and has been used as illustrative of the various human rights themes that emerged from the reports about the food riots. We have not attempted to report the interviews in detail, but the data is available. The causes of the Food Riots People had some idea about the strike ahead of the disturbances on Monday, 19 January 1998, which is indicated both by the press reports and the ZRP General Headquarters Report. They were aware both of the reasons and the fact that some “planning” had gone into at least the initial protests. It was the prices of food, the high prices of food. So they were not happy about it. I think the mealie-meal had gone up, and this had gone up, So many people were angry about it. So when I came here, I opened here then I went out, I locked the gate, I went to see the situation outside, unfortunately it was when it started happening. I think it was just a few people. I never got that … People were saying we are … Over the weekend? People were talking about the strike that we were going to have a strike, we are not going to work, this and that.