CHIPINGE CENTRAL 1. CONSTITUENCY: CHIPINGE CENTRAL 2. PROVINCE: MANICALAND   3. VENUE: PAIDAMOYO PRIMARY SCHOOL 4. DATE: 15 SEPTEMBER 2009 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 76 Sex: 35% Female Age: 20–72: average 46 years From: school children, government employees, resettled farmers, traditional leaders, local business people and political activists 6. PROCEEDINGS i. Interruption of programme • The programme that was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. only started at 3:15 p.m. • As soon as the facilitators arrived, the ZANU(PF) activists arrived at the venue and declared that meeting was not going to take place because they did not know of the meeting. • After a lengthy exchange for about 30 minutes between the ZANU(PF) activists and the local co-ordinators, the police officers helped cool the atmosphere. • The local co-ordinator told the political activists that there was a meeting because they had notified the local leadership of a meeting which was why people turned up. The Headman, though not present, had sent his son to represent him. The representative said he was aware of the meeting and wanted the meeting to proceed. • Meanwhile the people had gathered at the local school and it was resolved that the participants would be asked if they wanted the meeting to take place. The ZANU(PF) councillor for Ward 6 said he would gladly do it, but only after they finished another meeting which he was supposed to address. ii. Participants approach the facilitators • The local leadership then went to talk to the people. While the councillor was talking to the people, individual villagers approached the facilitators and said that they were not going to leave the place until they had participated in the meeting. They pointed out to the facilitators the people who were trying to block the meeting as the perpetrators of political violence who feared that the people would name them. They also said that before the meeting, a few days earlier, another meeting had been held by ZANU(PF) war veterans where people were warned against giving their views to NGOs regarding the constitution. They said that the activists were probably mistaken that the Forum had come to talk about the constitution. • A resettled farmer approached the Forum facilitators. He sat with them and started to chronicle, in a low voice, the politics of Chipinge District. He showed the facilitators a very big gum tree which had become a ‘victim’ of political violence. The tree was labelled ‘MDC’, he narrated. He said that angry ZANU(PF) youths came armed with axes and brought down the tree, then went ahead to cut it into pieces. It’s crime? MDC Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 33