23 There is ample evidence of torture in Zimbabwe’s history that serves to illustrate that the violence of the Parliamentary elections was not a new tactic. The torture and electoral irregularities that occurred during the Parliamentary elections cannot not be examined in isolation, and the evidence from the study of previous epidemics of torture is very relevant here. The use of torture as a tool, and the long-term impact of organized violence and torture has been shown to have both the familial and social consequences, as well the more obvious individual and medical/psychological effects. There is interesting evidence here from the study of the victims of the Liberation War. Case Study of Long-Term Effects of Organized Violence and Torture Several studies were conducted in the Mount Darwin District of Mashonaland Central into the effects of organised violence and torture (OVT) during the 1970s-80s Liberation Struggle. These studies examined the prevalence of disorders due to torturexvi, the clinical symptoms and disorders seen in torture survivorsxvii, the family and community effects of torturexviii, and even the response of torture survivors to counselling interventions xix. This north-eastern area of the country saw ordinary citizens involved in the guerrilla war during the 1970’s-80’s struggle for independence, because of its strategic importance to both sides of the war because of the proximity to Mozambique. The guerrillas were trained and held bases in Mozambique, and the first attack against the Rhodesian forces came from that area. Both the Rhodesian forces and the guerrillas, who demanded both tacit support and material support from citizens, manipulated the population. Many villagers experienced torture, physical violence, threats, destruction of property, and other crimes. Therefore, this population has a history of experiencing sustained violence. The results of one study in particular illustrate the continuing effects of the experiences of OVT xx. A key factor in this study was that most of the rural population in this area are poor – 74% are unemployed and rely on subsistence farming for their living. The added stress of poverty serves to exacerbate and magnify the survivors’ ability to cope and be self sufficient, effecting both their symptoms and recovery. Social adversity factors such as family, personal, psychological, and financial problems are important prognostic factors in dealing with psychological disorders. Amongst the “client group”, financial and personal issues were the rated the highest. The “client group”, when questioned about the causes of poverty, provided reasons that were OVT related, whilst the “control group” responses were more that of traditional causes of poverty. Regarding movement out of poverty, the “control” group gave reasons that were related to selfsufficiency, whereas the client group felt that it was very difficult to move out of poverty. This is related to one of the common effects of OVT, which is a reduced belief in one’s ability to be selfsufficient. The findings of the study illustrated that the survivors of OVT had a lower level of self-sufficiency, as a result of their violent experience and their inability to overcome social adversity. As the study researchers explain: “…our findings speak to the heart of this problem: survivors are traumatized into feelings and beliefs of powerlessness, perform less well in the many tasks of life, and the failure compounds and reinforces the lack of self-efficacy. It takes little imagination to see how this then translates into community, social and political apathy, and provides severe problems for the development of rural areas. This is a point that has been made again and again by refugee workers and community workers in areas that have experienced epidemic violence.” xxi It is highly probable that, for the members of the poor rural communities that experienced torture and violence in the Parliamentary elections, these events will have an impact on individual, family, and community life for years to come. It is noteworthy here to point out that epidemiological study in the same population described above indicated that 1 adult in 10, over AMANI Trust: Organised Violence and Torture in the June 2000 General Election in Zimbabwe